FDF, BRC back ‘coordinated’ approach to sugar reduction

By Katy AskewKaty Askew , 16-Aug-20172017-08-16T00:00:00ZLast updated on 16-Aug-2017 at 13:56 GMT2017-08-16T13:56:10Z Industry bodies representing the UK’s food and drink sector are backing a “coordinated” drive to reduce the amount of sugar in products. The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) are working in partnership to develop a database of “sugar alternatives” that will be shared amongst their membership. The organisations are inviting ingredient manufacturers, product specialists and researchers to submit details of products that may help companies reformulate. The FDF and BRC said they are looking for ingredients that will help sugar reduction, whilst enabling companies to maintain product quality, taste, product safety and shelf life. Taking reformulation to ‘next level’ Andrea Martinez-Inchausti, deputy director of food policy at the BRC, told FoodNavigator that the initiative aims to help take the industry’s efforts to reformulate to the “next level”. “Retailers and manufacturers have been reducing sugar for a number of years. However, to take the reduction to the next level, alternative ingredients to sugar need to be used. All companies were looking at it separately. Both BRC and FDF felt that coordinating this approach would make it easier for our members.” The move is targeting large manufacturers and retailers as well as small- or medium-sized businesses. “All businesses want to improve the wholesomeness of their product without affecting flavour and texture. The technological challenges are slightly different depending on of the scale of production, the type of product produced and the manner in which the product is retailed,” Martinez-Inchausti noted. The database will also boost “some of the ingredient suppliers who may be struggling to understand how to engage with a big company”, she suggested. Through the list, the FDF and BRC want to bring together innovative “sugar alternatives” that appeal to consumer trends, such as clean labelling. “We have a good understanding of sweeteners as a substitute, but these are not always appropriate or acceptable to customers. We therefore need to investigate other options which will enable a substantial sugar and ideally calorie reduction,” Martinez-Inchausti explained. Improving public health The FDF and BRC said the food industry’s reformulation efforts aim to improve public health. Kate Halliwell, nutrition and health manager at the FDF, explained: “FDF and our members are committed to playing our part in the fight against obesity. The food and drink industry has been on a positive journey for a number of years and this joint initiative with the BRC is the latest stage in the journey. We are confident this initiative will go a long way in supporting retailers and manufacturers in their sugar reduction efforts, leading to significant improvements in public health.” The initiative follows the publication of Public Health England’s guidelines on sugar reduction and supports the UK government’s ambition laid out in the Childhood Obesity Plan to reduce sugar consumption by 20%. Martinez-Inchausti said that to achieve this reformulation will be key. “A certain amount of sugar can be reduced by rebalancing [the] proportion of ingredients or looking at product composition, but to achieve a substantial reduction, which would be required to achieve the government ambitions to reduce sugar consumption by 20%, sugar needs to be replaced with other ingredients.” Strong growth for UK alcohol exports Exports of UK food and drink saw record growth in the first half of 2017, according to the latest report from the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), based on figures from HMRC, up 8.5% on the same period last year to £10.2bn. Although value sales of Scotch grew by £64.1 million, up 3.7% to £1,8195 million, volume sales fell by 1%, pointing to the growth of malt whisky to export markets Similarly, the value of beer grew 18.4% to £313.3 million, although again export volumes were down 2.2%. However exports of wine (which includes both UK-produced wine as well as wine imported to the UK in bulk for bottling) saw both volume and value growth in the first half of the year, with value sales up £47.6 million, or 21.1% to £273.8 million, while volume grew 15.4% The rise in gin was more modest, with a 4% increase in value sales of around £9.1 million taking the total value of gin exports to £235.1 million, while volumes grew by 1.9%. Scotch Whisky accounts for over a fifth of the UK’s total food and drink exports, according to the Scottish Whisky Association (SWA), and earlier this year, it announced exports had returned to growth following several year market by flat growth or small declines, with single malts smashing the £1 billion export barrier for the first time. Although the EU is the largest market for UK exports, the largest growth was seen in South Korea (+77%), China (+35%), and Belgium (+39%). One of the reasons for the rapid growth in East Asia was driven by sales of British beer in South Korea, the FDF said. Overall exports to the area grew to £156.3m. FDF director general Ian Wright said the growth was very encouraging. “We want to work with Government to take advantage of increased demand for UK products overseas and the opportunities that leaving the EU is expected to create,” he said. He argued that the EU remained “an essential market” for UK exports and there was significant opportunities to grow exports further, although the continuing weakness of sterling was “a concern”. “However, we hope that with the determination of businesses and the assistance of Government, we can open more channels and provide a further boost to the UK’s competitiveness on the world market,” he said. FDF welcomes government’s Irish soft border plan The government’s plan to rule out a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic has been welcomed by the Food and Drink Federation (FDF). FDF director general Ian Wright said: “FDF welcomes the government’s commitment to preserve a seamless, frictionless, open border with the Republic. We are also pleased to note the commitment to preserving both the Common Travel Area and Common Transit Convention. “We are pleased the government's paper acknowledges the enormous practical challenges facing us in food and drink, as expressed by FDF and the industry. Of course, these proposals can only become reality when they are agreed with the EU27.” The FDF, and a number of other food industry organisations, had long supported a soft Irish border after Brexit. It’s comments came after a government position paper revealed plans to avoid a hard Irish border and maintain a common travel area after Brexit. The government’s top priority Resolving border issues between Northern Ireland and the Republic in the run-up to Brexit, and providing certainty for food and drink firms, should be the government’s top priority, urged the FDF. Britain also sought waivers for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to exempt them from border control checks. The FDF also wanted to identify technical solutions posed by a new ‘trusted traders’ scheme, customs exemptions for SMEs and the issues around sanitary inspection checks for food and drink products. “Each of these must be done in a way that does not burden business,” Wright added. “We reiterate FDF’s offer to convene a joint industry-government task force to tackle the specific border challenges for food and drink. “We must ensure that vital imports and exports of raw ingredients and finished goods are not delayed or impeded.” Reassurance for businesses The government’s Irish border plans was also welcomed by a range of other business organisations, including the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Josh Hardie, CBI deputy director general, said: “This paper suggests that the UK government is going in the right direction, but there’s a way to go before businesses are reassured that trade will continue smoothly after Brexit. “What’s needed now is a pragmatic approach on all sides – this is an issue of mutual interest. A significant step up in engagement between the UK government, Irish government, local policy makers and businesses is needed.” Hardie also argued that without a future UK-wide customs system in place, it would be difficult to see how any guarantees could be given about the absence of physical borders or checkpoints. “While proposals for exemptions on smaller firms are welcome, this raises a number of questions about how the system will be monitored and enforced,” he added. Meanwhile, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said that maintaining a soft border was crucial for Northern Ireland. FSB UK chairman Mike Cherry said: “Small businesses in Northern Ireland must be able to continue to have access to the workers and skills they need, including those who travel across the border for work every day. “There must also be easy trade across the border, especially for goods which criss-cross it in the production process. This is in the interest of the UK economy as a whole.”