Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it her policy to mandate clear labelling of ultra-processed food.

The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) has considered the impact of processed foods and health in 2023 and 2025. The limitations in the available evidence on processed and ultra-processed foods and health means it is unclear whether these foods are inherently unhealthy due to processing or because a large majority of processed and ultra-processed foods are high in calories, saturated fat, salt and/or free sugars. The SACN recommends that on balance, most people are likely to benefit from reducing their consumption of processed foods high in energy, saturated fat, salt, free sugars, and low in fibre.

Given these limitations in the evidence base, the Government has no current plans to introduce labelling based on the level of processing and instead focuses on providing clear information on the nutrients most strongly linked to health outcomes.

Food labelling legislation already requires pre-packaged food and drink to include a mandatory nutrition declaration, providing information on energy and key nutrients including fat, saturated fat, sugars, and salt. In addition, voluntary front-of-pack nutrition labelling, such as the multiple traffic light scheme, provides clear, at-a-glance information to help consumers identify foods high in these nutrients.