The Food Industry is experiencing massive change over the next few years since the UK Government launched its Tackling Obesity Strategy in July 2020. We all know the basics to maintain a healthy lifestyle – eat less, exercise more, so why is the nation getting bigger?

The answer is complex but more knowledge about food, particularly it’s calorific content can only be a good thing, when it comes to managing the nation’s health. Concise labelling will help your customers make more informed choices about what they eat, whilst encouraging the food industry to provide a fuller range of products including more lower calorie choices. The traffic light system on food labels has been a familiar feature, in place since 2014. The government wants to go further.

The Calorie Labelling regulations come into force from 6 April 2022 for businesses with 250 employees or more. This implementation will be revised by the Government within 5 years, when the requirement may be extended to smaller businesses. In the meantime, smaller businesses are being encouraged to adopt calorie labelling on a voluntary basis.

These are the main requirements for businesses with 250 or more employees:

· Display the energy content of the food in kilocalories (kcal)

· Reference the size of the portion to which the calorie information relates

· Display the statement that ‘adults need around 2000 kcal a day’.

This information needs to be displayed clearly and prominently at ‘the point of choice’ for the customer including physical menus, display cases and online menus. The legislation also requires the information to be easily visible, clearly legible, and in no way hidden or obscured by other written or illustrated matter or any other intervening material.

Is your business ready to make these changes?

If you have one of the following food businesses, these regulations will affect you:

· Restaurants, fast food outlets, cafes, pubs and supermarkets

· Home delivery services and third-party apps selling food that is in scope

· Cafes and takeaways within larger shops and venues, e.g. supermarkets, department stores, and entertainment venues – e.g. cinemas

· Specialist food stores – delicatessens, sweet shops and bakeries

· Contract catering – events and canteens

· Franchises

· Domestic transport businesses – planes, trains, ferries etc.

(This list is not exhaustive)

The types of food that require calorie labelling include:

· Sale for immediate consumption – not requiring preparation prior to consumption

· Non-prepacked food – e.g. loose potatoes, but not a potato salad

· Non-exempt food – e.g. unprocessed single item products; herbs. nuts and seeds.

The enforcement date for these regulations is fast-approaching – less than 6 months.

If you fail to comply with the regulations, you could be issued with an improvement notice.

Get a free 20-minute consultation with The Nutrient Gap.

We’ll help you through compliance and get your business healthy from the inside out.

For further information also see UK Government Website