HFSS Foods are products that are considered to have a high level of Fat, Sugar or Salt. They are commonly associated with increasing obesity in children and adults.
What has triggered the new HFSS legislation?
In June 2018, the Government published Chapter 2 of the Childhood Obesity Plan. This discussed the issues surrounding the rising obesity crisis in children, and the long-term health effects into adulthood.
The report focused on improving the environment within the food and drink industry and encourages companies and consumers to work together to make healthier foods more visible.
It’s not just down to one group or person to combat the obesity crisis but a joint effort from parents, teachers, local leaders, health professionals and businesses.
Tackling obesity: Empowering adults and children to live healthier lives
The Childhood obesity plan triggered the Department of Health and Social Care to release their policy on ‘how to empower adults and children to live healthier lives.
The plan not only aims to improve the nutritional content of food and drink but also increase information found on labelling. This will shake up the way the industry markets its products, creating a more informative environment for consumers.
Limiting visibility of HFSS foods
The biggest disruption for businesses involves limiting promotional opportunities for unhealthy food and drinks. Mainly focusing on those with High FAT, SUGAR or SALT content.
This will target food companies across all retail and food services, drastically reducing visibility and lowering impulse buys on selected items.
What to expect when the HFSS goes live in October
From October 2022 any multi-buy/volume promotions, such as ‘buy one get one free or ‘3 for 2’ on HFSS foods will be phased out. Only allowing such promotions to be used for healthier goods
Placements in key retail areas such as checkouts, store entrances and online equivalents will also be reserved for products not in the HFSS Foods category.
This will ultimately change the average consumer’s shopping experience, which has a history of highlighting unhealthy options and encouraging pester power from children.
Foodservice has also been included in the scheme. Taking out sugar-sweetened drinks from the free refills offer.
What is considered a HFSS food?
Prepacked food and drink in a selection of categories will be restricted if they are considered to be HFSS as determined by their nutritional score.
Products can be tested using the Nutrient Profiling Model.
Developed in 2004-05, the profile was created to give Ofcom a tool to work from when differentiating foods on a nutritional basis. Using a simple scoring system, points are allocated based on nutritional content (per 100g).
HFSS Calculator
The profiling takes into consideration the levels of energy, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium compared to nutrients.
Click here to work out your Nutrient Score.
Does the HFSS affect your business?
If you have 50 employees or more within your company and your store is larger than 185.8 SQM, restrictions will apply.
There are some exceptions for specialist retailers. This includes companies that only sell one type of product such as sweet shops or bakeries.
Next steps
It seems the next area to be tackled will be TV advertising. The intention is to ban all HFSS food and drink from being shown before 9 pm.
Analysis from September 2019 showed that nearly half of all food adverts shown throughout the month across several channels were HFSS foods. This peaked during 6 pm – 9 pm to nearly 60%, a time when children’s viewings are at their highest.
These plans will help make sure that children are only exposed to adverts which encourage a healthy balanced diet.
The government will also be looking at ways to help reduce and reformulate programmes on salt, sugar, and calories. They have agreed to monitor progress, and adapt the scheme if results are not successful.
How to remove your product from the HFSS category
The biggest challenge will come from brands having to adapt their recipes to suit new guidelines whilst maintaining their signature taste.
The easiest way to adapt existing recipes and develop new NPD is to use replacement technologies for salt and sugar.
Many technologies for sodium replacements have been developed over the years, aiming to replicate the taste, texture, or functionality of salt. However, there is only one formula proven to replicate all three successfully, which is Smart Salt®.
What is Smart Salt®?
A patented sodium reduction technology from Finland, Smart Salt® has been tried, tested, and proven to have the same taste, texture, and functionality as salt.
Used across a variety of applications, it can reduce sodium levels by up to 60%.
The technology is the only replacer in the market which is magnesium chloride-based. This can help balance minerals, and human clinical studies have indicated lower blood pressure. Resulting in better heart health.
Due to its 1:1 replacement for salt, crystalline structure, and non-hygroscopic nature, it’s very easy to handle.
No need for a change in the recipe. You can simply just switch your regular salt to Smart Salt®.
There has been extensive product testing completed on the;
- progressive profiling,
- consumer acceptance testing,
- triangle tests,
- and quantitative descriptive analysis.
All the studies show in favour of Smart Salt® compared to other competitors in the market. There are also instances, where customers have preferred it against salt itself.
In addition to sodium reduction, Smart Salt® has the added benefit of reducing microbiological growth in certain applications, when compared to sodium chloride, enhancing the shelf life of products.
Get in touch
The proof is in the testing, so please get in touch with the team at info@brusco.co.uk to discuss the benefits of Smart Salt® further. Samples are available and we are looking forward to sharing this innovative product with you.
