Out-of-home food must be held to healthier standards

When it comes to health, why does the out-of-home (OOH) sector seem to receive preferential treatment compared to the rest of the food industry?

OOH food has become a significant part of our daily diet. In the UK, it accounts for about a quarter of the population’s calorie intake. A recent Nesta reports reveals approximately 60% of the population consumes OOH food at least once a week, with about 10% doing so daily.

In our latest research, led by Action on Salt and Sugar, we identified an approach suitable for this sector. Whilst the UK nutrient profile model (NPM) helps ensure balanced food composition, it overlooks portion sizes, which are often larger in OOH. So our new report recommends using the NPM alongside government-set targets and guidelines for calorie, salt and sugar reduction. These would act as maximum caps, indirectly limiting portion sizes.

Without doubt, it is hard for customers to demand healthier options when they do not realise how unhealthy current offerings are. Our research found that, by any metric, most of the bestselling menu items in the UK OOH sector are unhealthy.

However, we would not have been able to know this based solely on the information publicly available from companies. Of the top 20 OOH companies in the UK, only three provided complete enough food composition information to assess the healthiness of its products.

The excuses for inaction in the OOH sector no longer stand up to scrutiny. Given their growing influence, OOH companies should be held to the same transparency and healthiness standards as the rest of the food sector. 

SMEs comprise over 80% of OOH outlets in England, according to 2018 figures, and their fragmented nature makes collective action more challenging to implement. 

However, more than half of OOH food expenditure is spent at large chains. Large businesses have a disproportionate impact on the market and are better resourced to innovate and implement changes efficiently. They have an ethical responsibility to pave the way for industry-wide improvement, which should also be seen as an opportunity for growth rather than viewed as a burden.

Furthermore, given the increasing role of OOH in our diet, there is now an urgent need for these companies to offer, and/or shift their sales towards, healthier products. This is why we are calling on the new government to develop tailored health standards for the OOH sector – and we urge large businesses to step up and lead the way in improving our food environment.