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Progress on salt too slow

Sir, At long last Public Health England has released an analysis of progress made towards the 2017 salt reduction targets. The report shows a very poor response from the food industry. 

In our view, this is almost entirely due to a complete lack of action from PHE in enforcing salt reduction as a priority for the food industry.

It is now vital that an independent, properly financed organisation takes over the salt reduction programme and resets the targets to be achieved by 2021.

Professor Graham MacGregor, chair of Action on Salt

 

 

We must get GDPR right

Sir, It’s now just over six months since GDPR came into force. But new research from the Chartered Institute of Marketing has revealed it has done very little to improve consumer confidence.

In a survey of 1,500 consumers, 42% said they are still receiving unwanted calls and emails, only 24% believe that businesses treat people’s personal information transparently, and 83% of over-55s say they don’t trust businesses with their data.

Email communications are essential for the grocery sector for which online is the fastest-growing channel. But it cannot come at the expense of consumer trust.

We must get GDPR right - now and for our future.

Mark Dodds, food, drink & agriculture chair, Chartered Institute of Marketing



Lower-sugar condiments

Sir, In response to your analysis of the table sauces market in 2018: When we launched our all-natural beetroot ketchups in 2015 we were one of the lowest-sugar natural ketchups entering the market. Since then we have seen an incremental shift towards lower sugar content across the entire category - mostly down to growing consumer demand.

We believe the biggest consumer trends in 2019 will be natural foods and natural flavours. There’s a real opportunity with mayonnaise as the mayo aisles are still dominated by the big brands and lack choice. It’s simply not reflecting the growing demand we are seeing.

Frankie Fox, co-founder, The Foraging Fox