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HFSS product placement regulation hits unhealthy food displays

The proportion of space used to display HFSS foods in UK supermarkets fell following the introduction of regulations restricting the location of product promotions, research shows.

In its latest report, the UK’s National Centre for Social Research explored the impact of the Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations 2021, which apply to high in fat, sugar, or salt (HFSS) food and drink displays in specified supermarket locations around England.

It found that HFSS product displays dropped 32 percentage points, from 38% to 6%, following the introduction of the legislation in October 2022.

The legal update, which restricts the placement of HFSS products in key locations including store entrances, aisle ends, and checkouts, is applicable to retail outlets that are 2,000 square feet or over and have 50 or more employees.

Categorising HFSS products vs. healthy food and drink

“Our research covers 23 specific stores and therefore cannot be applied generally across all stores in England,” a spokesperson for the National Centre for Social Research told Ingredients Network.

“However, in these 23 stores, we found that since the regulations were implemented, the proportion of space in all the restricted locations used to display HFSS products reduced.”

Location restrictions resulted in HFSS product displays dropping from 38% to 6%, with related increases in displaying out-of-scope products.

The study identified HFSS foods using the Nutrient Profile Model (NPM) scoring system.

Data collected before the introduction of the legislation show that significant swathes of space were used for food and drink displays that were HFSS products, indicating the rationale behind the law’s implementation.

Post-legislation data collection sought to compare the use of space before and after the legal implementation to test whether HFSS products have been removed and to quantify the proportions of space used to display HFSS, non-HFSS, and out-of-scope products.

No more HFSS products at entrances and checkouts

The Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations limited the location of HFSS products within specified food categories to restrict promotions and advertising.

Following its introduction in October 2022, UK locations must avoid placing HFSS products at store entrances, aisle ends (and any separate structures within 50 cm of the aisle end), checkouts (including tills, self-checkouts, and checkout queuing areas), and covered external areas.

A systematic review conducted in 2020, before the legislation came into effect, examined the influence of food store product placement on food selection and dietary-related outcomes.

Most studies showed that better availability and more prominent positioning of healthy foods – and reduced availability or less prominent positioning of unhealthy foods – was associated with improvements in dietary-related behaviours.

Limiting HFSS space and upping ‘healthy’ food displays

Except for store entrances, which saw an increase of two percentage points, the proportion of space used to display HFSS products decreased across locations.

The most significant reduction was in standalone units with a 30 percentage point decrease, followed by aisle ends at an 11 percentage point decrease, and checkouts showing a 10 percentage point decrease. Overall, post-legislation data shows that the area used to display non-HFSS foods did not change across locations.

Before the legislation took effect in 2022, on average, more than half (54%) of the floorspace in the four convenience stores was used to display HFSS products, compared with just over one-third (35%) of floorspace in the 19 supermarkets. After the legislative update, there was a reduction of 50 percentage points in convenience stores and 28 percentage points in supermarkets.

Changes have also varied according to product category, with confectionery showing the biggest changes in the proportion of space used across restricted locations for display.

Pre-legislation, confectionery made up 18% of space across all in-store display locations, decreasing by 2% after the introduction of the legislation. Ready meal space increased by 14% and drinks by 3%.