Promotion and placement of less healthy foods in retail businesses

The regulations The Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations 2021 commonly known as the High Fat Sugar and Salt (HFSS) Regulations will apply to medium to large retail food businesses and their online platforms.

Gov.uk: Restricting promotions of products high in fat, sugar or salt by location and by volume price

Which foods are affected

Any less healthy foods with a Nutrient Profile Score of:

• food - 4 or above
• drinks - above 1

These foods are subject to media and promotional restrictions. Volume promotions, encouraging consumers to buy more than they would normally purchase, such as buy-one-get-one-free (BOGOF) and two-for-one deals are banned in those businesses within scope of the rules.

The placement of HFSS products in premium locations such as end of aisle displays, store entrances and checkouts is prohibited. There will also be restrictions placed on digital marketing and pre-watershed advertising.

The specified categories include:

• breaded and battered products with fish, vegetable, meat, or meat substitute
• breakfast cereals
• cakes and cupcakes
• confectionary - chocolate and sweets
• desserts and puddings
• ice cream, ice lollies, frozen yoghurt
• juice based drinks with added sugar
• morning goods, croissants, buns, scones, fruit loaves, crumpets etc
• pizzas (except plain pizza bases)
• ready meals (certain types) but not savoury pastry products, quiche, pies, sandwiches, sushi etc
• roast potato products, chips, sweet potato products, wedges etc
• savoury snacks, crisps
• soft drinks and milk-based drinks with added sugar
• sweet biscuits, bars, cakes and cupcakes
• sweetened yoghurts and fromage frais

Which businesses are affected

Businesses with 50 or more staff:

• larger retailers
• convenience (with certain exemptions applying based on square footage),
• online retailers
• non-food retailers such as clothes shops and newsagents selling food.
• online marketplaces will be prohibited from promoting HFSS goods via pop-ups, apps, home, and checkout pages as well through volume offers.
• franchised stores may be affected

The rules do not apply to:

• small businesses with fewer than 50 staff
• the 'out of home' sector such as restaurants / takeaways / cafes (except that free refill of sugary drinks will be subject to the volume price promotions ban)
• care homes
• educational institutions (up to the age of 18 years)
• charities
• prisons and military establishments
• specialist retailers with a smaller floor space of less than 185.8 m² or 2,000 sq ft such as bakers or sweet shops (if they sell mainly food from a single category of less healthy foods are exempt from the placement restrictions, but must still comply with the volume price promotion restrictions on specified HFSS foods / drinks)
• manufacturers unless selling direct to consumers

Placement restrictions

For qualifying retail businesses with 50 or more staff and shop floor space of 185.8 square metres (m²) (or 2,000 square feet (sq ft) then, the new rules restrict the placement of pre-packed 'less healthy' foods in key locations close to:

• checkouts
• store entrances
• aisle ends
• designate queueing areas
• online equivalents such as pop-ups, home and checkout pages

Annex C of the Governments guidance provides details on minimum distances and calculations.

Promotion restrictions

There are restrictions on the advertisement and promotion of HFSS foods, such as:

• multibuy promotions such as 'buy one, get one free'
• volume promotions such as 'three for two' offers, 'buy six and save 25%'
• free refills of HFSS drinks

Offers commonly referred to as 'meal deals' or 'dine in for two', where foods are intended to be consumed together, are not included in the volume price promotion restrictions.Discount promotions and vouchers such as '50% off', 'half off' or 'save £1' are also not included.

Enforcement

Improvement notices can be issued by suitably authorised officers. Fixed penalty notices (fines) can be issued where an improvement notice is not complied with. Annex B of the Governments guidance provides a full breakdown on how enforcement works.