Distributor Central Foods has introduced HFSS ratings for its entire range. The company, which distributes bakery brands including Baked Earth, The White Range Foods and We Love Cake, has said the move will provide wholesalers with extra information to help them and their customers make informed choices and is belonging to its ‘Making Your Life Easier’ pledge.
HFSS legislation came into force in October 2022, restricting the placement of products by location, which means products high in fat, sugar or salt cannot be placed in areas identified in supermarkets as impulse buy areas, and in October 2023, legislation will come into force restricting HFSS products by volume price, affecting discounts and deals. Such legislation means producers, retailers and advertisers are all impacted, as new rules on advertising come into play.
To get ahead of the curve and anticipation that legislation will be brought in for the food service sector, Central Foods has invested in software which can work out the HFSS rating of a product “at the press of a button”.
The company has now created HFSS ratings for its complete range to help customers make conscious decisions with full knowledge of the facts.
“We are committed to going the extra mile to help our customers and have invested in new software which can calculate the HFSS level of any product in our range on request,” explained Gordon Lauder, Managing Director, Central Foods. “The nutritional and calorie content of food has become a key issue in recent years and this new service will support our wholesale customers to in turn help their own customers working in the food service sector.”
The new software considers the proportions and amounts of different ingredients in a product and is able to calculate the HFSS level in seconds. If a product has a rating of four or more, it is considered ‘less healthy’.
Applying the software to its own distribution, over 48% of Central Foods’ range scores three or below, with 100% of its bread range in that category. 83% of the vegan products it offers comes with a score of three or lower.
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Caitlin Gittins
Editor, International Bakery
Tel: +44 (0) 1622 823 920
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