War on obesity: British restaurants to display calorie content by law

Keen to cut obesity – the second biggest cause of cancer across the United Kingdom – the Boris Johnson government on Wednesday made it compulsory for restaurants and small businesses to display calorie information on menus and food labels.

Officials said that overweight and obesity-related conditions are estimated to cost the National Health Service £6.1 billion each year. Almost two-thirds (63%) of adults in England are overweight or living with obesity, and 40% of children leave primary school overweight or obese.

The new rules that came into force on Wednesday mean that it is now a legal requirement for large businesses with more than 250 employees, including cafes, restaurants, and takeaways to display calorie information of non pre-packed food and soft drinks.

Calorie information will need to be displayed on menus, third party apps, food delivery platforms and food labels at the point a customer makes food and drink choices. As well as listing the calories for each food item, menus and labels will also need to include daily recommended calorie needs.

The legislation, which forms part of the government’s strategy to tackle obesity, aims to ensure people can make more informed, healthier choices when it comes to eating food out or ordering takeaways. Displaying calorie information may also encourage businesses to provide lower calorie options for their customers.

Public Health Minister Maggie Throup said: “It is crucial that we all have access to the information we need to maintain a healthier weight, and this starts with knowing how calorific our food is. We are used to knowing this when we are shopping in the supermarket, but this isn’t the case when we eat out or get a takeaway.”

The most recent official data shows that in 2019-20, there were over one million hospital admissions where obesity was the primary or secondary cause, an increase of 17% on 2018-19 when there were 876,000 obesity-related admissions.

Bridget Turner of campaign group Diabetes UK said: “Obesity is the single greatest risk factor for type 2 diabetes and there are an estimated 13.6 million people at increased risk of developing the condition in the UK”.

“Tackling this health crisis is vital, so the government’s commitment to make large takeaway, cafe and restaurant chains calorie-label the food they sell is a welcome move towards reducing the rising levels of obesity in the UK”, she added.

There are some exemptions to the legislation, including food that is on a menu for only 30 days of the year or less. Any person who fails to comply with a notice could be guilty of an offence and could be fined £2,500.

The types of businesses covered by the new rules include: restaurants, fast food outlets, cafes, pubs and supermarkets; home delivery services and third-party apps selling food that is in scope of the legislation; cafes and takeaways within larger shops and venues, such as supermarkets, department stores, and entertainment venues such as cinemas; specialist food stores, delicatessens, sweet shops and bakeries; contract catering – for example, for events and canteens, and domestic transport businesses including planes, trains, ferries and other forms of water transport within the UK.

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