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Nutrient profiling model 2018: technical guidance

Department of Health and Social Care

2018.0

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Summary

This technical guidance document from the Department of Health and Social Care sets out the revised 2018 nutrient profiling model (NPM), which provides a standardised scoring algorithm to determine whether a food or drink product is 'less healthy' for the purposes of UK advertising restrictions and policy. The model assigns positive scores for nutrients of concern (energy, saturated fat, sugars, sodium) and negative scores for beneficial components (fruit, vegetable and nut content, fibre, protein), producing a threshold score that categorises products. It is the authoritative reference for applying the NPM within UK regulatory frameworks, including Ofcom advertising rules.

UK applicability

This document is directly applicable to UK policy and practice, underpinning restrictions on the advertising of less healthy food and drink to children in the UK and informing wider public health nutrition policy.

Key measures

Nutrient profile scores based on energy (kJ/100g), saturated fat, total sugar, sodium, fibre, protein, and fruit/vegetable/nut content per 100g or per 100ml

Outcomes reported

The document sets out the technical methodology and scoring system used to classify foods and drinks according to their nutritional composition, distinguishing healthier from less healthy products for regulatory and advertising purposes.

Theme
Policy, governance & rights
Subject
Food regulation & public health nutrition
Study type
Guideline
Study design
Policy report
Source type
Industry/policy report
Status
Published
Geography
UK
System type
Food supply chain
Catalogue ID
WP0139

Topic tags

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