Reformulation for health

The process of reformulating is different for each food business. FDFS can provide the following support: 

• review your current nutritional specification, and benchmark this against existing market trends to ensure that any work done now strengthens your product’s longevity 
• map any upcoming industry guidelines and legislations which may affect your product 
• use a holistic approach to reformulation, and will present all the nutritional improvements for your product that could be achieved through reformulation 
• encompass what is important to your brand specifically and ensure that reformulation works for you. 

FDFS also have a Reformul8 toolkit available to review your reformulation opportunities. 

Get in touch with FDFS to find out how they can help your business at reformulation@fdfscotland.org.uk  

In support of the UK Government’s Childhood Obesity Plan which aims to halve the rate of childhood obesity by 2030, a UK wide voluntary reformulation programme is in place. This includes a number of targets to reduce the amount of sugar, salt and calories in the foods we commonly consume. 

The UK Government has published guidelines and targets for the following: 

Sugar 

The voluntary sugar reduction guidelines in place are for all sectors of the food industry, and explain how to achieve a target of 20% reduction in sugar across the top food categories that contribute to children’s sugar intake by 2020. These categories include breakfast cereals, biscuits, cakes and morning goods. 

An assessment of progress by the food industry between 2015 and 2020, was published in 2022. 

Salt 

Voluntary salt targets were published in 2020, to be achieved by 2024 for retail and out of home sectors. The targets cover 84 specific food categories that contribute most to people’s salt intakes, such as meat products and bread. 

Calories 

In 2020, voluntary calorie reduction guidelines for retail and out of home products, were set out to be achieved by 2024. This challenges retailers and manufacturers to reduce calories by up to 10%, and the eating out of home, takeaway and delivery sector to reduce calories by up to 20%. A report detailing industry progress between 2017 and 2021 was published in 2024.