The Vegetarian Society quoted in House of Lords obesity report
Food, diet and Obesity Inquiry Committee Report: Recipe for Health: a plan to fix our broken food system now published.
We were delighted to see the Vegetarian Society quoted in the House of Lords obesity enquiry report, recognising our position that meat and dairy alternatives can provide nutritional benefits, and accessible sources of protein and fibre, particularly for specific demographics – notably vegetarian and vegans!
The Food, Diet and Obesity Committee was appointed by the House of Lords on 24 January 2024 to consider the role of foods, such as ‘ultra-processed foods’, and foods high in fat, salt and sugar, in a healthy diet and tackling obesity. Following the State Opening of Parliament on 17 July 2024, the Committee was reappointed by the House of Lords on 29 July 2024.
The report, ‘Recipe for Health: a plan to fix our broken food system’ has been compiled by a committee of 12 members of the House of Lords and was written on the basis of submissions from a wide base of academics, food industry representatives, members of public bodies and NGOs, including the Vegetarian Society, and advisers including Chris Van Tuleken, Henry Dimbleby and Tim Spector. The report has declared the UK food system to be ‘broken’ and in need of large scale changes to improve public health.
The headline recommendations of the report are that the government should:
- Place tighter restrictions on HFSS (high in fat, salt, or sugar) food, advertising and industry introducing a salt tax and expanding the scope of the sugar tax wider than soft drinks
- Return oversight of the food system to the Food Standards Agency
- Prioritise research into Ultra Processed Foods and the connection with poor health outcomes.
- Review the Eatwell Guide published in 2016 to ensure it reflects updated evidence and advice
- Develop a comprehensive, integrated long-term new strategy to fix our food system underpinned by a new legislative framework.
The report, which also focused on and took in views on the evidence around ultra-processed food, questioned the reliability of using the NOVA framework which categorises food according to degree of processing. The report included contributions from the Vegetarian Society which drew attention to the need for a proper assessment the evidence of health impacts of UPF, given the nutritional value of foods such as plant-based meat and dairy alternatives.
The Vegetarian Society is quoted at 184 p.67 on the subject of UPFs
VEGETARIAN SOCIETY REPORT EXCERPT [P67]:
The Vegetarian Society also stated that such meat and dairy alternatives provide core nutritional value to specific demographic sub-groups including allergy sufferers, vegetarians, vegans, and those seeking to reduce meat and dairy by switching to plant-based alternatives. They argued that for those sections of society, plant-based meat and dairy alternatives represent accessible sources of fibre and key nutrients including protein, calcium and vitamin B12.280
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