Ultra-processed Food

Debate between Earl of Effingham and Lord Markham

Thursday 26th October 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Markham (Con)]

To take the second question first, the industry has worked with a lot of comments on reformulation across the board—for younger children and older ones. Noble Lords will remember me saying that foods such as Mars, Galaxy, Bounty and Snickers bars have all been reformulated, as have Mr Kipling’s “exceedingly good” cakes. Clearly, we need to look across the board at it all. I know that the industry is working in the area of young people. I am happy to follow that up in writing with the precise details.

[The Earl of Effingham (Con)]

My Lords, in yesterday’s QSD on ultra-processed foods, the Minister spoke of how he had recently made a sound choice due to calorie labelling. What will the Government do to help and encourage SMEs with fewer than 250 employees to show calorie labelling on food and drinks that are not pre-packed?

[Lord Markham (Con)]

My noble friend makes a good point. I gave an example of where it had affected my own behaviour. I am sure we all have examples of when we have looked at the menu and thought, “Oh, do I really want that choice? Is it worth the extra calories?”. We want to get it proportionate, so while we want to encourage as many companies as possible to take it up, we appreciate that for small companies it is quite a bit harder. We are working with them to introduce it voluntarily if they can.