England’s food strategy: missed opportunity to use fiscal food policy levers to improve diets and reduce health inequalities

The government’s long awaited food strategy for England was finally published on 13 June 2022.1 Immediately pronounced “feeble,”2 it was also condemned for largely ignoring the expert recommendations of the independent review commissioned by government ministers.34 It does not seem to be a strategy, offering neither ambition nor concrete proposals. The focus on personal responsibility is naive, foolishly ignoring far more powerful population-wide policy measures.5 Likewise the blatant failures to tackle climate sustainability,4 equity, and child health.1Crucially, this policy paper also ducks the sugar and salt reformulation levy, a powerful public health measure that has long been recommended by the wider scientific community. Fiscal policies targeting salt, fats, and sugar have been proved to be particularly effective, decreasing consumption of unhealthful foods6 and thus saving thousands of lives.467 A 20% sugary drinks duty in England, for example, could gain over 40 000 quality adjusted life years (QALYs) every year.7Fiscal policies…
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