Health and Social Care Select Committee calls on Government to ‘stand up to food industry’ after decades of failure to tackle obesity

15 July 2026

Building from the proposals of the cross-party Committee’s new report – the details of which Action on Salt & Sugar contributed evidence towards in November 2025 - MPs are calling on the government to prioritise obesity prevention over the interests of the food and drink industry.  

The report’s recommendations include proposals to improve England’s food environment via tighter legislation on advertising, promotions and labelling of food, as well as enabling easier access to healthier food options. Crucially, MPs highlight that government must be braver against industry lobbying, citing where previous obesity-prevention policies have failed due to heavy and aggressive industry influence.  

Many of the key recommendations published today build upon aspects of our 2025 evidence submission, and the report calls to: 

• Build on the TV and online High Fat, Salt and Sugar (HFSS) advertising ban that came into place in January 2026. Bring brand and range advertising into scope, commit to a policy review in 2031, and consult on restrictions on other forms of advertising, namely social media and outdoor spaces – which have been flagged repeatedly as heavily exploited by industry.  

• Improve food retail environments by updating the Location and Promotion Restrictions by 2027 at the latest.  

• Launch the Healthy Sales Reporting scheme as soon as possible, with targets for major supermarkets set within the next 12 months. Include penalties and strict enforcement overseen by the Food Standards Agency. 

• Introduce mandatory front-of-pack labelling by January 2028 to enable consumers to make quick, informed dietary choices.   

• Review the value of NHS Healthy start cards each year, with measures introduced to boost uptake of the scheme.  

• Tighten existing National Planning Policy Frameworks to negate risk of industry loophole exploitation.  

• Reduce food industry influence by excluding food businesses that derive more than a certain proportion of sales from less healthy products from discussions on the formation of policy on food, diet and obesity prevention. This should also apply to the industry associations that represent these businesses.   

 

The Select Committee’s recommendations are welcomed by Action on Salt & Sugar, however, could have gone further in calling for tighter regulations on salt and sugar reformulation specifically. We encourage measures such as:  

• Category-specific salt and sugar reduction targets as part of the Healthy Food Standards. 

• A review into how the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) model could be applied to salt and sugar in key food categories.  

• An expansion of the Location and Promotion Restrictions onto all less-healthy food and drink, going beyond solely HFSS categories and bringing them to all small, medium and out-of-home businesses and delivery platforms.  

 

Speaking on the Health and Social Care Select Committee’s announcement, Dr Kawther Hashem, Head of Research and Impact said:  

“We are delighted to have contributed evidence to this inquiry, and it is encouraging to see several of our key recommendations reflected in the Committee’s report, including bringing in mandatory reporting and targets, stronger advertising restrictions, mandatory front-of-pack colour coded nutrition labelling and a clear role for the Food Standards Agency in overseeing and enforcing business compliance. 

For far too long, the odds have been stacked against families, with foods high in fat, salt and sugar often cheaper, more heavily promoted and easier to access than healthier choices, contributing to obesity and other preventable diet-related diseases. The Committee is therefore right to call on Ministers to stand up to vested commercial interests and put public health first. 

However, important opportunities have been missed. The report does not go far enough on extending the successful SDIL levy model to key food categories high in fat, salt and sugar, strengthening promotion restrictions across the whole market to apply to all unhealthy food and drink, or making commercial baby food standards mandatory. 

Voluntary approaches have repeatedly failed to deliver change at the scale and pace needed. Ministers must now build on the strongest recommendations in this report, close the remaining gaps and introduce bold, evidence-based regulation that creates a level playing field across the food industry and protects the health of children and families.” 

 

Read the full announcement on the government website.