Fair Food Price Caps

The Scottish Government is considering options to improve food affordability, including the potential introduction of a price cap on a defined set of essential food items. This reflects wider concerns around the cost of living, food insecurity and the impact of rising food prices on low-income households. The aim is to keep essential foods affordable and ensure everyone can access the basic necessities for a balanced diet and meet their nutritional needs.

From a public health nutrition perspective, improving access to affordable, healthier foods is an important consideration. Poor diets remain a key public health challenge in Scotland and improving access to affordable, healthier foods for everyone is essential, particularly for lower-income groups. Households with children in the lowest income quintile would need to spend around 85% of their disposable income to afford a healthy diet in line with UK dietary guidance as depicted by the Eatwell Guide. A food price cap policy therefore presents an opportunity to prioritise foods that support healthier diets and help address diet-related inequalities. The approach should be consistent with the ambitions of the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act, supporting access to healthy, affordable food for all.

A key challenge in designing any food price cap policy is determining what constitutes an appropriate basket of "essential" food items. Decisions about the composition of such a basket could have implications for affordability, dietary health, consumer choice, retailer implementation and wider food system objectives.

This paper does not seek to determine the relative weighting of these considerations, which are ultimately policy decisions. Rather, it provides advice from a public health nutrition perspective on principles, criteria and potential approaches that could be used to identify foods for inclusion within an essential food basket. The recommendations are intended to complement wider analytical work and support further policy development.