Welcome everyone! Please mute yourself and feel free to write any comments and questions in the chat box. Please mark questions with the word ‘QUESTION’ so that they are easier for us to pick out.

The report can be found here: https://foodfoundation.org.uk/publications/

And handy (short!) cribsheet here: https://foodfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/FF_Broken_Plate_Report-2021_Overview.pdf

covid supercharged inequalities especially food insecurity

If you are tweeting about the event please use the hashtag #BrokenPlate

Hi, will we be able to access the recording after the meeting?

Yes, the recording will be made available

Hi, do you think calories for calorie is the most accurate measure? RE 'Healthier foods were nearly 3 times as expensive as healthy foods calorie for calorie'

The recording of this session will be made available on the Food Foundation website soon

@eleanor - you're right that there are lots of different ways to look at food price. The other metric in the report on affordability of a healthy diet provides some additional perspective using a different method. And I'll try and mention some other ways food price has been studied when I speak.

Thank you, Jean.

Thanks Anna- amazing work from Food Foundation as ever

QUESTION what is the other 50% of F&D ad spend?

Shows what a fail the new junk food legislation is though with Brand advertising ok

Hi Andrew. The other 50% covers all other food categories and other drinks such as squash etc

Do you think the new restrictions, recently announced on restricting advertising HFSS foods before the watershed will help

QUESTION Isn't the low advertising spend on fruit & veg in part because a lot of fruit & veg is not branded (or is own-branded). Would we want to see more branded fruit & veg? Or if not how can advertising of unbranded goods be increased?

I personally think the main focus for fruit & veg advertising needs to be around the seasonality of it in the UK.

Yes the report compares a healthy fruit and veg category with three food and drink categories that have high presence of food and drink high in fat, salt and sugar, whilst contributing very little nutritional value. The other 51% are the remaining food and drink categories, including takeaway/delivery, other retailer spend.

@Christine - we did some research looking at the expected impact of the new pre-9pm watershed ban on HFSS ads on TV. We expect it to reduce the number of children living with overweight or obesity by 120,000 https://www.cedar.iph.cam.ac.uk/2020/10/13/restricting-unhealthy-food-advertising/

What consideration is being given to in-store promotion spend in these food categories. The investment in these mechanics far exceeds advertising spend and yet they directly drive 'in-home stock pressure' - the specific objective of in-store promotion?

this is such a good overview of the reality of cost of food from Kathleen, thank you

Hi Chris, the Government is also laying down legislations to restrict certain types of promotional activity for a range of HFSS product categories - notably multi-buy promotions that encourage people to overpurchase and overconsume, and in-store locational promotions, such as displays in the entrances, aisle ands and checkout areas - and their equivalents online (eg landing pages, checkout processes)

Brilliant and really helpful explanation, Kathleen, thanks so much.

Well said Kathleen.

Kathleen, thank you.

thank you all

@Chris Holmes - you're right. Data sources on promotions aren't too easy to get but the brilliant folks at Oxford Uni who work on Food DB are starting to access this data. It might be something we could add in future years. The CPI data isn't very good on promotions.

The way Kathleen explains it is a practical way is very good. This is what we need to explain to local politiicans with a local focus.

@Kate I would agree with you re brand advertising, I think it is potentially a huge loophole that the ad industry will exploit. We did lobby on that, but it is not included in the new legislation, nor are marketing tactics such as sports sponsorship, so the advertising campaign is by no means over.

the educational aspect of knowing how to prepare foods is a huge obstacle for many too, as the generation of parents now raising children may have only lived on freezer food/processed food for the past two or three generations

@Anna Taylor, Great to hear that Oxford are looking at in-store promotion impact. The data is there but expensive to access. ATNI are including this in the UK Retail Index that is being worked on currently.

I would agree with the comments that assessing costs of relative foods by calorie are not the most helpful. Is there comparable data that measures the costs of typical healthy meals vs less healthy meals?

There is also an issue with making healthy food cheaper. If an apple retails at 27p, the farmer can't be earning more than 5-10p an apple, which will be a minimal profit. So I think boosting earnings and/or targeted benefits may be a fairer approach.

calorific density of foods per kilo is a great way to ensure how full you will be after eating. As I say, a kilo of broccoli is not going to sustain or fill up a belly like a kilo of potato

Surely this is a planning permission and therefore local gov. issue. I have complained a number of times to my local authority. Jill Clark CancerWatchUK

@peter - this is a summary of the work I mentioned about the cost of healthier vs less healthy diets: https://www.cedar.iph.cam.ac.uk/2017/12/12/the-price-of-prevention-12-12-17/ People who eat better tend to spend about 30% more on food

Changing the way food is delivered and shortening food chains can also have an impact on affordability of food, without impacting on producer

Yes I think WHY "Healthy foods" are more expensive is important. Higher quality foods cost more?

Food needs to be more affordable - not cheaper. Cheap food brings loads more externalities that we can’t afford as a society.

I don't think the question is about making healthy food cheaper. There is already a lot of pressure on the food system (+ the impact on the planet), but rather making wages better?

Fast food outlets. LA Levers are very limited. So need short, medium and longer term actions.

@kathleenKerridge - we need nutrient dense foods not just to feel full if we are going to live our best possible life.

For anyone interested in Force Fed as referenced by Laura just now: https://foodfoundation.org.uk/publication/force-fed/

Fast Food is an interesting space as it is a low capital way for local people to earn money and can make a +ve contribution to reducing local community poverty, especially as these businesses source lots of materials from other local businesses (unlike the FF chains)

those nutrient dense foods cost much more, though

I live in Kensington and Chelsea, there is a BIG disparity between the south (wealthy) part of the borough and the north of the borough - so even aggregating at borough level doesn't necessarily reflect lived experience of local communities.

Exactly the problem - and making food cheeper doesn’t help when we already have farmers using food banks

Agree with @Laurence - a fair price, value int he supply chain and the role of subsidies and the impact on the systems is an urgent part of the solution. Fairtrade Foundation's research shows that on average cocoa farmers earn as little as 23p per day

For those that don't want to go to the pub/too young - these places offer somewhere to socialize.

Changing the food economy in low income areas is the key. How can we make healthy food accessible and affordable in those communities? At the moment, we’re just really good at making fast food more accessible and affordable. Need financial incentives to allow a healthier food economy to flourish in these communities. This to include planning system, business rates, but also direct financial incentives in the hands of consumers.

yes, do we know where the govt is up to with deciding on how farming subsidies are to be distributed?

Agree @Zainul - fast food places being a safe and convenient place for children/teens to hang out in after school or on weekends came through really strongly in some of the qualitative quotes included in this year's report

Zainul, yes that is right. The Blackburn with Darwen child obesity trailblazer programme has been working with local businesses to explore how a transition to healthier places can be achieved, recognising they are gathering places for young people too.

@ Zainul Leitch - Yes I love the quote "Fast food is the Muslim young adults equivalent of the English pub"

@Barbara Crowther - of course, check out the Food environment assessment tool proper (feat-tool.org.uk), which I lead, for detailed within LA maps, down to postcode level

It is interesting working in an upper tier LA as we can support our district LAs to pass legislation like hot food takeaway SPDs (supplementary planning documents) which have been successfully passed elsewhere but it takes a huge amount of corporate will which is always a difficult toss up between looking at impacts on the economy and health, and as someone has pointed out employment in FF outlets builds capital in the local economy and there need to be suitable, viable alternatives if we are to remove them. I think it’s less about eliminating FF outlets and more about making more nutritious choices more universal and preventing FF companies from preying on more deprived areas.

Thomas we really benefitted from using the FEAT tool in our LA.

@ Farihah Choudhury - that’s super to hear! New data coming some point this year…

@Farihah what LA out of interest?

Great work Kawther, Sonia and Action on Sugar & Salt. There are now so many ways that packaging sends signals to parents that suggests HFSS products are suitable for children, child-friendly characters are just one way and clearly your research shows they are the thin edge of a very big wedge that confuses and misleads parents on a daily basis. Our research with parents last year shows how much these influence children's preferences and behaviour https://www.sustainweb.org/news/jul20_parentpower/

Excellent report and presentations, thank you everyone. Just wanted to highlight that talking about children at the age when they're eating breakfast cereal and yoghurts for breakfast isn't talking about the start of life, babyhood is. Hope we can all extend our thinking on food systems to encompass 'first-food systems', and look more at what babies and toddlers are being fed and why, and what needs to be done in our food system to improve diets in the first 1000 days.

One of the potential issues with 'plant-based' foods is that they can simply be substituting highly processed meat products for highly processed plant-based alternatives, which are not necessarily any better for you. I don't know if anyone has researched this?

I worry about that too

Another great piece of work Anna et al. QUESTION - how is progress going on measuring levels of household food insecurity in the UK and holding government to eliminating them.

@Rob Marr - was wondering this, as it is becoming an issue if we look at the offer range in shops. Quite worrying

The food system challenge is that processing = higher business margins = advertising = greater sales - the vicious circle from a health perspective

Great to hear Thomas! Shalen I am Hampshire County Council Public Health

This is anecdote, not evidence, but I have family members who are vegan but have a very poor quality diet with very little fresh fruit and veg.

Thank you everyone for such a brilliant presentation - I think teaching people how to cook with cheaper but more nutritious ingredients is also key. Ingredients like lentils, leaves are fairly cheap and make a big pot of meal for a family for cheap. But the issue is most people don’t think of making them and it’s also very hard to find them in supermarkets and there is 0 advertising for it. A bag of red lentils (I kilo) is less than a pound and can feed a whole family for a few days.

Could you explain in what way height is a good measure of good nutrition or good health?

Thank you.

@Rob Marr - great point, I guess it depends on the processing methods used and the intentions. Processing doesn't necessarily mean bad. Great resource from EUFIC https://www.eufic.org/en/food-production/article/processed-food-qa :)

Thank you everyone for joining us today and participating, the recording will be available on our website shortly for you to share across your networks

For anyone interested in discussing the supermarket industry and food insecurity more, my team at University of York is running a webinar on the 20th July on this: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/how-can-supermarkets-help-end-food-insecurity-tickets-160718480301

Many of new non-meat dishes are basically ultra processed foods which should also be avoided

https://foodfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/FF-Broken-Plate-2021_Singles.pdf

thank you everyone. It was lovely to see you all again and read your comments

No food should be avoided Geoff?

@tom malnourished children don't grow as fast as they don't have the nutrition .

Congratulations Food Foundation and collaborators

As a Registered Nutritional Therapist, I have been working on my own comprehensive project over the last 2 years. it’s called. ‘Food For Thought: The Ultimate Children’s Pathway To Health Eating For Life. I would love to be in contact with you about this.

Thank you so much everyone

Thank you all!

Congrats everyone, great report

thank you

Thank you!

Thank you very much!

congrats!

Thank you all!

Thank you!

Fingers and toes crossed for the food strategy then..

Great report thank you Food Foundation!

Thank you all

Thank you everyone great report

Thank you!

Congratulations to Food Foundation and thanks for all your work on this.

Well done. Great stuff.

Thank you

thank you, great webinar!

Thanks everyone

Thank you everyone!