One of the UK's biggest food firms has said ministers should consider taxing products high in fat, sugar, or salt to combat the obesity crisis. 

Danone UK & Ireland, which sells the Actimel yogurt drink brand, revealed that government intervention is required to ensure consumers are offered healthier products. Some food firms in the UK have not demonstrated “enough appetite to change”.

President of Danone UK & Ireland, James Mayer, said that "the UK food industry's efforts to improve the health profile of its products have not moved fast enough, reaching a point where meaningful intervention from the government is a necessary course of action." 

For the first time, a major food company called for urgent government action in the face of increasing rates of obesity. The Health Survey for England for 2021 reported that 64% of adults were overweight or obese.

'Drugs for obesity, a gamechanger': Sunak

The intervention by Danone UK & Ireland comes after Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, said last week that the latest drugs to combat obesity could be a “gamechanger”. Ministers are now under pressure over whether they could take more effective action to prevent obesity.

Henry Dimbleby, the government's former food adviser, resigned earlier this year, stating that officials had failed to impose the required restrictions on the food industry. A proposed prohibition on marketing sugary and fatty foods on television before 9 p.m. has been postponed until October 2025.

Mayer noted that it is now "time for the government to move from a policy that favors caution to one that sets clear parameters for the industry and consumers as to what constitutes a healthy product."

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It is the first time a major food manufacturer has asked for immediate government action in response to rising obesity rates. According to the Health Survey for England 2021, 64% of adults were overweight or obese.

Most groceries are already VAT-free under current legislation. Ice cream, soft drinks, and some biscuits are exceptions. Danone suggested that authorities consider imposing VAT on more products heavy in fat, sugar, or salt.

Is the UK government to blame for the 'flood of unhealthy food?' 

Last month, Nestle was criticized for its newly-launched KitKat breakfast cereal, 25% of which is sugar. Sustain, the Obesity Health Alliance and other organizations protested that the product's marketing, which billed it as "nutritious," was "deeply irresponsible," claiming that the UK government had multiple opportunities to address "the flood of unhealthy food," but had failed to do so.

Nestlé UK & Ireland stated that it was devoting a large amount of resources to developing healthier and more sustainable products, and also noted that it planned to enhance its portfolio's more nutritional offerings, claiming that the word "nutritious" was deleted from its global website to advertise its new KitKat cereal.

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A Nestlé spokesperson told the Observer that it had worked hard to ensure that 84% of its cereal portfolio in the UK was free of HFSS and that it now reported the nutritional content of its entire worldwide product range.

"We have also been consistent in saying that we are open to the idea of effective regulation in the UK that drives proper innovation in our sector and has the desired health outcomes that we all wish to see," the business added.

Professor Graham MacGregor, chair of the campaign group Action on Sugar, called it "crazy" that the government was failing to adequately regulate the food industry while planning to spend billions of pounds on new pharmaceuticals to battle obesity.

He said: “We live in an environment where it’s very difficult not to be obese and the government has got to control the food industry. It’s remarkable that a food company is now asking for more regulation.”

The government claims that it has already banned the display of unhealthy goods in supermarkets and that it will soon be regulating multi-purchase bargains such as "buy one, get one free" in October.

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