Food Standards Scotland proposals to improve the out of home environment

Summary

Which? supports this initiative by Food Standards Scotland (FSS) to improve the out of home(OOH) environment in Scotland, building on the Scottish Government’s Diet and HealthyWeight Delivery Plan and related initiatives such as the Scottish Government’s recent consultation on Reducing Health Harms of Foods High in Fat, Sugar or Salt.

People in Scotland eat out regularly and this sector contributes around 25% of calories eaten. It is therefore important to look at how the sector can help consumers to make healthier choices. Our consumer research has found that most people in Scotland think that the priority actions that should be taken by OOH businesses are cutting down on fat, sugar and salt levels; offering more healthier choices and providing information about the nutritional content.

We support the provision of mandatory calorie information out of home and our research shows that around 6 in 10 (58%) people want this information. How this is provided should reflect the nature of the business as this is a very diverse sector. More generally, we agree that a range of actions should be encouraged to promote healthier choices of foods to consumers when eating out and particularly when food is provided for children.