Processed Food
(asked on 13th May 2024) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of consumption of ultra-processed foods on health.
United Kingdom dietary recommendations are based on independent advice from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN). In July 2023, the SACN published a position statement on processed foods and health, summarising a scoping review of the evidence on food processing and health. The statement can be accessed via the following link:
The statement included an evaluation of the methods of applying the ultra-processed food (UPF) definition in the UK, the suitability of such methods, and consideration of the availability and quality of evidence on food processing and health.
It made reference to international policy and recommendations with respect to food processing and estimates of processed food consumption in the United States and France. The statement notes that estimated average UPF consumption in the United States was comparable to estimates conducted for the UK. Estimated average UPF consumption in France was somewhat lower than the UK. However, it is unclear if this is due to differences in dietary patterns, data collection methods, the methods used to estimate UPF consumption, or a combination of some, or all, of these issues.
The SACN concluded that observed associations between UPF and health are concerning, but it is unclear whether these foods are inherently unhealthy due to processing or due to their nutritional content. Given the SACN’s concerns, the committee has added the topic of processed foods to its watching brief and will consider it at its next horizon scan meeting in June 2024. No specific assessment has been made of the impact of the UK exiting the European Union on levels of UPF consumption.