YOUR KEY TAKEAWAYS: HEALTHY & SUSTAINABLE DIETS – FROM DATA TO DELIVERY
“Food is the single strongest lever to optimise human health and environmental sustainability on earth.” – Eat-Lancet Report, 2019
Why this matters now
The UK’s new Healthy Food Standard marks a turning point. Healthy, sustainable diets are no longer a "nice to do" – they're a regulatory, societal and commercial necessity. With the NHS 10-Year Plan and Government’s Plan for Change on obesity in motion, healthy food strategies are fast becoming a matter of compliance, and when done well, a clear strategic advantage.
Investor scrutiny is rising, NHS costs are climbing and consumer expectations are evolving. Businesses must act. The food industry holds the key to unlocking systemic health and climate solutions.
The case for change
Healthy and sustainable diets are an increasing priority as regulation tightens, climate goals demand action, consumer expectations evolve and systems-level change creates a powerful lever for impact.
Inaction is no longer just affecting public health and climate, it is a rapidly growing business risk, with food businesses…
increasingly facing with regulatory risks
missing innovation & growth opportunities
weakening resilience in a volatile landscape
becoming irrelevant and outpaced in the market
We’re seeing regulation, demand and opportunity aligning – and this is the moment to act.
“The question seems to have shifted from ‘can we afford to change?’ to ‘can we afford not to?’” – Charlotte Radcliffe, Health expert speaker
The levers to transform the system
For food businesses, transformation requires action on both the supply and demand sides of the system. The supply side must enable and incentivise healthier, more sustainable choices, while demand-side, consumers need awareness, motivation and access.
Where can your business influence change most? Use our supply and demand infographic to navigate this shifting landscape. It highlights key levers, enablers and interdependencies across the system – helping you see where action matters most.
DOWNLOAD OUR SUPPLY & DEMAND DECODED GRAPHIC HERE
The five key principles for actionable steps
When we asked the audience what the biggest barrier to progressing on healthy, sustainable diets was for them right now, 33% said competing priorities, 33% said balancing commercial pressures with sustainability and 22% said data quality or clarity. (Taken from 18 poll responses)
These five principles are designed to help you focus on what matters most, overcome the barriers and take credible, practical steps forward on your healthy and sustainable diets journey.
PRINCIPLE 1: FOUNDATIONS FIRST – ROBUST DATA AND MATRIX METHODOLOGY
Use FAO/WHO guiding principles for Sustainable and Healthy Diets to frame the scope
Unify data streams, actively plug gaps, assign clear data owners and benchmark performance
Establish a comprehensive baseline across climate and health data at product level
Apply a matrix methodology and scoring mechanism to identify priorities
“You don’t need perfect data to get started. The key is to use what you already have to identify hotspots and make progress.” – Will Clare, Climate expert speaker
PRINCIPLE 2: ENGAGE AND EMPOWER STAKEHOLDERS THROUGHOUT THE VALUE CHAIN
Build a cross-functional group that reflects all stakeholder interests
Upskill your teams to close capability gaps
Collaborate with suppliers from the very start
Keep farmers front and centre as key partners in your supply chain
“This is not a solo job. Cross-functional collaboration and supplier engagement are key to shifting systems, not just products.” – Charlotte Radcliffe, Health expert speaker
PRINCIPLE 3: SET CLEAR, AMBITIOUS AND ALIGNED GOALS BASED ON BEST PRACTICE
Conduct materiality assessment/LCAs to focus your efforts
Anchor targets to external frameworks, national policy and best practice
Ensure the strategy covers all relevant topics – joined up approach
Set targets across key areas, not just reductions, and incentivise across teams
"Getting granular at product level is essential – it’s how you move from generic ambition to evidence-based action." - Helen Ireland, Head of Advisory, Future Food Movement
PRINCIPLE 4: PILOT, MEASURE ADAPT FOR CONTINOUS IMPROVEMENT
Prioritise a high-impact product/category first
Don’t try and do everything at once, start with incremental change through focused pilots
Don’t try and do everything at once, start with incremental change through focused pilots
Accelerate via purposeful NPD to test and refine solutions
“Focus on where you have most influence and most impact. That might be a high-emissions product category, or a supplier with room to improve.” – Will Clare, Climate expert speaker
PRINCIPLE 5: COMMUNICATE OPENLY AND FOSTER POSITIVE CHANGE
Practice radical transparency - ahead of disclosure requirements
Prove, don’t claim. Focus on clarity, short ingredients lists, visible sourcing and honest language
Make healthy and sustainable diets irresistible - lead with taste, convenience and emotion
Make healthy and sustainable diets irresistible - lead with taste, convenience and emotion
Ensure communications is two-way and drives engagement and behaviour change not just broadcast
"Behaviour change isn’t one-size-fits-all. It’s about nudges, co-creation and meeting people where they are." - Helen Ireland, Head of Advisory, Future Food Movement
Need support on your next steps?
Our expert advisory team can help you:
Identify key HSD insight and intelligence to inform action
Build a data-led product matrix or category review
Review or develop an HSD strategy, plan and roadmap
Shape impactful internal or external communications to drive engagement
If you would like to discuss any of your business needs, get in touch with FFM’s Head of Advisory, Helen Ireland at helen.ireland@veris-strategies.co.uk
Read these useful resources
Food & Agriculture Roadmap - World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
A UK government food strategy for England, considering the wider UK food system - GOV.UK
10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future - GOV.UK
The industry’s questions answered
We've summarised the questions raised during the webinar below. If you have a different question or would like to discuss any of these further with us, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our Head of Advisory, Helen Ireland at helen.ireland@veris-strategies.co.uk
What impact do you foresee from the new Govt NHS 10-year plan and the proposed changes to the NPM model on businesses?
The anticipated nutrient profiling model updates and NHS 10-Year Plan will significantly raise the bar for businesses. Many have already reformulated to meet current HFSS rules, but proposed changes, especially around free sugars, could trigger another wave of reformulation, particularly in categories like beverages. On top of that, advertising restrictions and new reporting expectations will push for more transparency, prompting internal reviews and strategic change. In short: more scrutiny, more measurement and more pressure to act.
How can we make sure these efforts are being extended to, and are made accessible to the socio-economically deprived areas of the UK?
To make healthy, sustainable diets accessible in socio-economically deprived areas, we need to focus on affordability, clear communication and smart product choices. That means championing low-cost, nutrient-dense options like plant-based proteins (such as beans), and ensuring these are visible, appealing and easy to integrate into everyday diets. Retailers play a key role in making this shift inclusive across all communities.
To drive effective change within a business, do you think nutrition/health or sustainability expertise is most important (or is it more about stakeholder engagement and communication / other skills that's more needed)?
To drive effective change, stakeholder engagement, influence, governance and communication skills usually matter most, backed by enough nutrition/health or sustainability literacy to be credible. Technical experts are still essential to set sound targets, measure rigorously and avoid unintended trade-offs, but the typical bottleneck is orchestrating cross-functional delivery, rewiring incentives/KPIs and telling a compelling commercial story. The winning combination is setting a cross-functional where you can bring all the relevant people together and win hearts and minds. A dedicated session to ensure everyone understands the landscape, learns what others are doing and are clear about their role is also important.How do you build relevance, trust, and shared interest in sustainable sourcing, with your financial team, in times when food inflation is still on the up?
Speak Finance, not ESG language: frame sustainable sourcing as margin protection, cost/volatility hedging, risk reduction and cash improvement, backed with relevant KPIs. Involve them early on in business cases for Opex and Capex projects. Explore the ESG hurdle rates, measurement, scenario ranges etc. Starting with small pilots and proving the returns will also help. Finally, running bespoke capability sessions for cross-functional teams, including finance, can be really helpful to inspire, build understanding and ensure aligned action.
Join Future Food Movement’s next Healthy Sustainable Diets Accelerator
The healthy sustainable diets accelerator equips leaders with practical, expert-led insights to drive sustainable change. Join a collaborative online community of industry leaders and apply real-world solutions for immediate impact.
Running from 7th October to 10th November