Industry news

UK National Food Strategy report calls for tax on sugar and salt

15 July | report

A report intended to inform the UK Government’s planned National Food Strategy has called for a sugar and salt tax. It also suggests fruit and vegetables should be prescribed by the National Health Service (NHS).

Published on the 15 July, the hard-hitting report – part two of a series of recommendations – was authored by Henry Dimbleby, founder of the Leon food chain.

It sets out how diets will need to change over the next ten years in order to meet the UK Government’s existing targets on health, climate and nature.

By 2032, fruit and vegetable consumption will have to increase by 30% and fibre consumption by 50%, while consumption of food high in saturated fats, salt, and sugar will have to go down by 25% and meat consumption should reduce by 30%.

The report says historic reform to the country’s food system is needed to protect the NHS, improve the health of the nation and save the environment.

It says the coronavirus pandemic is a “painful reality check” that is an opportunity to transform the UK’s food system to save lives.

The report says poor diet contributes to an estimated 64,000 deaths every year in England.

In one of the report’s most radical recommendations, its author is calling for the introduction of a sugar and salt reformulation tax, with some of the money being used to expand free school meals and support the diets of those living in the most deprived neighbourhoods, partly through the hand-out of free fruit and vegetables.

Dimbleby also warns eating habits are destroying the environment, which in turn threatens our food security. The food we eat accounts for around a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions, and is the leading cause of biodiversity destruction, his report says.

The report was commissioned by the UK Government in 2019. The first part, published this time last year, called for the retention of core standards in relation to food imports resulting from future trade deals.

In his wide-ranging second report, Dimbleby repeated that call and also suggested food education should be central to the national curriculum.

Dimbleby also recommends measures to restore and protect our natural environment, by investing in sustainable farming techniques and new food technologies such as “novel proteins”.

22 july | groceries

UK retail body warns self-isolation rules pressure ability to “keep shelves stocked”

Pressure is building on the UK Government to bring forward the easing of self-isolation restrictions for people that have been double-jabbed with the coronavirus vaccines, as supermarkets and food retailers struggle to keep shelves stocked amid increasing numbers of workers being ‘pinged’ by the NHS app.

The British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) had already warned last week that some of its members might be forced to stop production lines for certain products, and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has now waded in on the isolation debate.

BRC’s director of food and sustainability Andrew Opie has reportedly urged the Government to ‘act fast’ to allow fully vaccinated retail workers or those who have tested negative for the virus to be allowed to go to work “to ensure there is no disruption to the public’s ability to get food and other goods”, according to UK broadcaster the BBC.

Increasing numbers of workers in the food industry and beyond are being instructed by the NHS Covid-19 track-and-trace app to self-isolate after supposedly coming into contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus, even though those same workers have had two doses of a vaccine.

The so-called pings have led to worker absenteeism, exacerbating staff shortages present before Covid-19 and made worse by a shortage of qualified haulage drivers.

21 july | logistics

UK Government reveals plan to tackle lorry driver shortage

The UK Government has revealed plans to streamline the process for new drivers to gain their heavy goods vehicle (HGV) licence following industry complaints about an acute shortage of large truck delivery drivers.

In an open letter to the road haulage industry, signed by ministers including Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and Environment Secretary George Eustice, the government has pledged to ease driver qualification requirements to tackle the current shortage.

The problem was highlighted in a letter sent by the Road Haulage Association (RHA) to Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the end of last month.

It was countersigned by Ian Wright, the chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, Nick Allen, the chief executive of the British Meat Processors Association, and Richard Harrow, the chief executive the British Frozen Food Federation.

The letter warned of supermarket delivery issues leading to empty shelves unless action was taken.

Separately, food manufacturers including Haribo and Premier Foods also highlighted the delivery problems they were facing for the same reason.

Reasons given for the driver shortage – estimated to be up to 100,000 hauliers – included drivers returning to their country of origin during extended periods of Covid-19-induced lockdown and not returning to the UK, as well as a similar exodus linked to the uncertainty of Brexit and their future rights to live and work in the UK.

20 July | Snacks

PepsiCo defends pay offer as US plant strike continues

PepsiCo has stood by its “good-faith” pay offer to striking staff at a snacks plant in the US and hit out at “misleading allegations” about working at the site.

Employees at the factory in Topeka have been on industrial action since 5 July, protesting pay and conditions.

Anthony Shelton of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, which represents the strikers, has claimed workers are being “forced to work seven days a week, up to 12 hours per shift”.

In a statement dated 12 July, Shelton said: “Many of the more than 800 workers are only getting an eight-hour break between shifts. They are forcing the current workforce to work double and triple shifts.”

Frito-Lay, PepsiCo’s domestic snacks business, issued its own statement yesterday. The company insisted its offer – a two-year contract that would include staff getting a 4% wage increase over the period – was what the union had put forward on salaries.

“Though the union has suggested that Frito-Lay did not meet its terms, Frito-Lay in fact agreed to the union’s proposed economic terms,” the snacks giant said.

“Our good-faith offer – which was endorsed by the entire union bargaining committee, a group elected to represent views of the full bargaining unit – accepted the union’s proposal for across-the-board wage increases and, at Frito-Lay’s suggestion, improved work rules that would reduce overtime and hours worked.”

16 july | meat

Covid staff self-isolation hitting production, UK meat body warns

UK meat processors are being forced to change what they produce as the number of staff ‘pinged’ by the country’s NHS Covid-19 app and told to self-isolate rises, a trade association has said.

The British Meat Processors Association warned production lines could come to a halt if more workers are informed by the app to stay indoors.

More than half a million people in the UK were contacted by the NHS Covid-19 app and told to self-isolate in the week to 7 July.

Covid-19 infections continue to rise in the UK, with more than 50,000 people testing positive as of 16 July, according to government data. On Monday, much of the country’s restrictions will fall away and the number of Covid-19 cases looks set to rise further.

Businesses and union officials have warned of the impact on production should more staff be told by the NHS Covid-19 app they have to self-isolate after being deemed to have been a close contact of someone to have tested positive.

The association told Just Food some processors are having to cut products from their output that need a high level of butchery skills, including chops and steaks.

20 july | sustainability

Unilever sustainability agenda to feature carbon footprint labels

Unilever plans to put carbon footprint labels on its products identifying the individual greenhouse gas emissions, a project that will start this year either in Europe or North America.

The initiative is connected to the Marmite and Colman’s mustard owner’s new sustainability targets unveiled last summer, when it committed to net zero emissions across all its products by 2039.

In the more immediate term, Unilever aims to halve emissions from its products “across the value chain” by 2030.

A spokesperson told Just Food the carbon-footprint labels will be put on a “small number” of Unilever products later this year either in Europe or North America but at this stage the company is not disclosing what items they will be.

No timings have yet been set out for the UK, the spokesperson said.

The finer details of the project were given exclusively to UK newspaper The Independent, in which Unilever’s Marc Engel, its global head of supply chain, said it was driven to action by younger consumers’ concerns over the impact of climate change.

In brief

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Fonterra puts forward new capital structure proposals

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Nestlé confirms cell-based meat initiative

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Yoplait brand Petits Filous to make plant-based debut

Yoghurt business Yoplait has taken its UK brand Petits Filous into the plant-based arena for the first time.

Smithfield Foods to pay multi-millions to settle pork price-fixing claims

US meat giant Smithfield Foods has agreed to pay $83m to settle litigation that accused it, and other food businesses, of fixing prices in the American pork market.

16 july | plant-based

Activist investment firm Spruce Point weighs into Oatly

Spruce Point Capital Management has published a 128-page dossier heavily criticising Swedish plant-based milk producer Oatly, which went public in the US this year at a suggested $10bn valuation.

Some of the New York-based asset manager’s grievances range from claims related to accounting weaknesses, an overpriced valuation, market-share losses, issues with capital investment and a suggestion the oat-based drinks category has matured to the detriment of investors.

Founded by former Wall Street investment banker Ben Axler in 2009, Spruce Point describes itself as “an industry-recognised research activist investment firm” with a “track record of exposing stock promotion with insightful short-selling opinions in the food and consumer space.”

The report read: “There is long-term potential that Oatly faces insolvency when investors realise that the oat milk food fad has matured and interest in funding money-losing businesses wanes.

“As such, we believe Oatly will sorely disappoint investors and will never achieve profitability.”

In its prospectus to mark the IPO earlier this year, Oatly stated revenues of just over $421m and an operating loss of $47m. Net income was reported as a $60.3m loss.

In response to the allegations, Oatly said in a statement provided to Just Food: “The company is aware that a short seller is making false and misleading claims regarding the company.

"This short seller stands to financially benefit from a decline in Oatly’s stock price caused by these false reports. Oatly rejects all these false claims by the short seller and stands behind all activities and financial reporting.”

8 july | environment

Lactalis taken to task over factory safety and environmental lapses

French dairy major Lactalis has been taken to task for failing to comply with a new government initiative introduced last year to improve plant safety and reduce the environmental footprint of factory operations.

The Ministry of Ecological Transition has identified 13 industrial sites that need improvement, including five in the food sector owned by Lactalis.

All the plants have been placed under increased vigilance following factory inspections to comply with a ruling laid out by minister Barbara Pompili last September aimed at preventing on-site accidents and to protect the welfare of employees, as well as ensuring the facilities are environmentally sound.

A deadline to comply has been set as 31 December 2022. In the case of Lactalis, the ruling applies to the five identified plants in Riom-es-Motagne, Raguin-Vercel, Lons-le-Saunier, Xertigny, and Laval-Changé.

In response, Lactalis has said work started on making improvements at the sites in question last year and are due for completion “no later” than 2022.

“Pending the expiry of these works, measures have been implemented on all sites in order to comply with the regulatory standards,” Lactalis said in a statement.

“Large-scale work has already been initiated on these sites, which today comply with authorised discharge standards.”

Privately-owned Lactalis added that it had spent €45m in the last six years to improve wastewater treatment, with a further €45m planned over the next three years, noting the business is “fully aware of its environmental responsibility and continuously improves its control of industrial risks”.