The annual report from Chief Medical Officer for England, Sir Chris Whitty, has backed the introduction of an industry levy on unhealthy food to address and food-related ill health including rising obesity rates among children.

In the latest annual report from England's Chief Medical Officer, focusing this year on ‘Health in Cities’, Sir Chris Whitty says that urban children in particular are set up to have shorter and unhealthier lives by growing up exposed to a flood of unhealthy food options.

The impact of this food saturated in sugar, salt and fat is increasing food-related ill health including dental decay and rising obesity rates alongside associated illnesses like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

The report states that the ‘food environment in parts of cities entrenches inequalities in health and promotes obesity’.

It claims it is unrealistic to expect education and willpower alone to bring about a reduction in food-related ill health when ‘as humans, we are genetically wired to crave calorie rich food’.

The food industry has an important role to play in improving what we eat as they shape what is sold to us on our supermarket shelves through their product recipes and marketing.

The report, which has been published annually for over 150 years, outlines a series of recommendations to address health in cities, including the introduction an industry levy on unhealthy food to encourage companies to reduce salt and sugar in their food.

Alongside incentivising the food industry to produce healthier options, greater transparency and accountability is recommended, including through targets on healthy food sales and mandatory reporting on metrics related to food sales.

Voluntary measures to encourage reformulation have not proven effective enough, with the sugar reformulation programmes achieving only a 3.5% reduction in sugar levels of key product categories, compared to the mandatory Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) which achieved a reduction in total sugar sales of 34.3% between 2015-2020.

The SDIL was a landmark public health intervention and demonstrated that industry can be incentivised to provide healthier products through fiscal measures without harming sales or profitability. Research has shown the largest reductions in sugar intake resulting from the SDIL have been in families living on low incomes and the reduction in sugar is already having tangible health impacts on children, although more needs to be done to stem the flow of sugar and salt in our food.

Public support for industry regulation more broadly remains high, with only 13% of British adults thinking food companies will make their food healthier without Government intervention. 2 in 3 also specifically support expansion of sugar and salt levies to other unhealthy foods where the money raised is used to support initiatives for children’s food and health.  

The Chief Medical Officer’s report is the latest in a string of high-profile reports recommending an industry levy on unhealthy food, including the National Food Strategy, the Times Health Commission and the Lords’ Select Committee report on Food, Diet and Obesity.

Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty says:

“Cities provide great opportunities for a healthier life but many, especially in areas of deprivation, have poor access to healthy food choices, exercise and are exposed to air pollution. These are soluble problems.”

Kate Howard, Recipe for Change campaign coordinator at Sustain says:

“We strongly welcome the recommendations of this report including the call for incentivising healthier food production through a new levy. The food industry can and should do better when it comes to the products they sell us. A new industry levy has now been called for by multiple experts and support from the public remains high. The Government needs to make 2025 the year that they listen to this mandate and create the incentives to build a healthier food industry.”

The full report, which also looked at other opportunities and challenges in cities including air pollution, a lack of green spaces and vaccinations, is available here.