There has been much debate in recent weeks about the potential new taxes on sugar and salt that are being considered as a way to tackle the UK's relationship with junk food, reduce meat consumption, and help the climate crisis.
The government commissioned an independent review: the National Food Strategy, drawn up by restaurateur Henry Dimbleby, which states that the UK population's diet is fuelled by consumer and manufacturer's reliance on processed food, and places an unmanageable burden on the NHS and contributes to 64,000 deaths each year.
The first recommendation of the plan is that the government introduces a sugar and salt reformulation tax and that some of the revenue can be used to help get fresh fruit and vegetables to low income families. The tax should comprise a £3/kg tax on sugar and a £6/kg tax on salt sold for use in processed foods or in restaurants and catering businesses. The plan states, "This would encourage manufacturers to reformulate their products to use less sugar and salt, in order to keep costs down. In some cases – where products cannot be reformulated, and therefore remain extremely high in sugar and salt – the increased cost might be passed on to the consumer. This would make such products less appealing. The tax would apply to all sugar and other ingredients used for sweetening (such as syrups and fruit extracts, but not raw fruit) at a rate of £3/kg. This is approximately the same rate as the current Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL), which the sugar tax would replace.It would apply at a rate of £6/kg to all salt sold for use in food manufacturing. As salt is used in much smaller quantities than sugar, the rate needs to be higher in order to achieve an impact."
The Food Foundation, which was consulted in the review, called the tax "an exciting proposition," saying that childhood obesity levels in Britain were at a critical level and had not fallen in recent years, and that the nation has an opportunity "to pivot the food system to protect human and planetary health."
But food manufacturing groups said consumers would ultimately have to pay the cost of the taxes, an unfair demand on businesses that have struggled to stay afloat during the pandemic. "A salt and sugar tax will ultimately impact those families who are already struggling to make ends meet by making food and drink more expensive," said Kate Halliwell, the chief scientific officer for the Food and Drink Federation.
Nothing has been decided as yet, and the report and its recommendations need to be considered. Boris Johnson has said that he rejects junk food tax recommendations stating: "I am not, I must say, attracted to the idea of extra taxes on our working people, let me just signal that, but I will study his report with interest".
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