OBESITY FOCUS
A question of In response to Westminster’s latest remit on obesity and calorie intake, PAPA director Jim Winship delivers operational advice around this hugely prevalent topic.
GRADUAL CHANGE The government has set out its obesity strategy by focusing on calories and working with large retailers and foodservice operators to encourage consumers to eat more healthily and reduce daily intake by 50 calories a day. The 10-year approach, which has been developed in collaboration with major food businesses, allows operators to each decide how they achieve this goal – offering discount incentives, reformulating, changing loyalty schemes, etc. But it includes a requirement for them to report on healthy food sales. This places calories at the heart of tackling obesity, aligning with proposals 14 230_P&P_Oct25_p14-15_Obesity_G AB.indd 14
calories
submitted to government by the Pizza, Pasta & Italian Food Association some five years ago, suggesting that a focus on calories would have more impact than targeting businesses to reformulate. We argued at the time that it was very difficult to change consumer behaviour by simply reformulating products. This new strategy sets out a structured approach, recognising that gradual change is more realistic and, coupled with the use of incentives, can have a real impact on obesity over time. The government estimates that, over a decade, this will ‘lift 340,000 children and two million adults out of obesity’. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR Although there is lack of detail in the government proposals – such as which businesses will need to report and how they do this – this approach is more commercially practical than previous attempts at tackling the problem. While small businesses are unlikely to be required to publish data on health, it is very likely that consumers will focus more on the calories they consume.
The challenge is how to respond to this initiative in a positive way, while recognising that the very nature of pizzas means they can never be regarded as healthy food items. Indeed, attempts in the past to create this have generally failed, as most consumers recognise that they are indulgent rather than falling into the ‘good for you’ camp. People are also suspicious that a ‘healthy’ option will not taste so good. Coinciding with this initiative, we need to consider the impact the new weight loss drugs are likely to have on appetites. It is estimated that 1.5 million people are already taking these and this is likely to increase with the NHS now prescribing them. Early research from the US indicates that food volumes decline for people on the drug between 6-7%, plus categories seen as high in calories have suffered a bigger decline. There are ways that pizza businesses can support all this, without affecting their bottom line. These include: ● Looking at the ingredients used in toppings and consider alternatives. For example, there are hybrid www.pizzapastamagazine.co.uk 08/10/2025 11:30