Assessing adherence to Government's sugar, salt, and calorie reduction targets of the top 20 UK restaurants' menus in 2024: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundTo address high obesity rates in adults and children, the UK government published voluntary targets for industry to reduce the sugar, salt, and calorie content of food products. Initial reports indicate little progress, however there has been limited assessment of the eating out, takeaway, and delivery sector. This study aims to assess the proportion of menu items that meet the government's sugar, salt, and calorie targets, from the 20 highest-grossing chained restaurants in the UK. MethodsWe identified the top 20 UK chained restaurants using data from market research company Euromonitor International. Nutritional information for 4054 products was collected directly from restaurant websites. Each product was assigned an overall category (eg, main meals, sides, etc.), and categories defined by the sugar, salt, and calorie targets. Findings36% (n=207) of products met sugar targets, 60% (n=1411) met salt targets, 72% (n=1592) met calorie targets, and 43% (n=1269) met all applicable targets. Categories with the highest proportion of products meeting the respective target were ‘Breakfast Items’ for sugar (73%, n=138), ‘Burgers’ for salt (100%, n=85), and ‘Salads’ for calories (96%, n=44) and all applicable targets (96%, n=44). Restaurants with the highest proportion of products meeting the respective target were Leon for sugar (63%, n=15), Burger King for salt (97%, n=32), Dominos for calories (95%, n=209), and Subway for all applicable targets (78%, n=62). InterpretationThe calorie targets were reasonably well adhered to whilst a large proportion of products still exceeded the target levels for sugar and salt. Ambiguities in the targets’ food categorisation makes their application somewhat subjective, risking low transparency and hindering a level playing field between companies. These findings can inform which companies and food groups need to be prioritised when implementing similar public health schemes in the future. FundingAOH is funded by the SALIENT project, which is funded by the ESRC (ES/Y00311X/1). RP is funded by a Royal Society and Wellcome Trust Sir Henry Dale fellowship (222566/Z/21/Z). RP is also supported by NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre. HF is funded by the COPPER project. The COPPER project is funded by the NIHR Public Health Research programme (NIHR133887). The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. LB is funded by NIHR Applied Research Collaborations (ARC) Oxford and Thames Valley. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis or interpretation. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the funders.