Summary
Published by Public Health England in 2018, this policy report establishes the rationale and framework for a 20% calorie reduction across a broad range of everyday food and drink products by 2024. It identifies priority food categories contributing most to excess calorie consumption in the UK population and sets category-specific targets for industry reformulation, portion size reduction, and shifts in product sales mix. The report serves as a foundational reference for the UK government's calorie reduction programme, complementing earlier sugar reduction commitments.
UK applicability
This document is wholly UK-specific, produced by Public Health England as a direct policy intervention aimed at UK food manufacturers, retailers, and out-of-home operators. It underpins subsequent UK government monitoring and progress reporting on calorie reformulation.
Key measures
Calorie content benchmarks by food category; percentage reduction targets; market share analysis across product categories; out-of-home and retail sector contributions to calorie intake
Outcomes reported
The report sets out calorie reduction ambitions across major food categories, identifying the scale of change required from manufacturers, retailers and the out-of-home sector to reduce population-level calorie intake.
Topic tags
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