Calorie labelling: Food Service & Licensed outlets

Due to launch on the 6th April 2022, we’re here to help the UK hospitality industry understand what it is, why it’s important and implications for their soft drinks business.

What is calorie labelling legislation?

As part of a wider plan to tackle obesity, the government has introduced legislation to implement mandatory calorie labelling on non-packaged food and soft drinks at the ‘point of choice’ among large food businesses (businesses with 250 or more employees) in the out of home sector.

Food and drink that is prepacked is already required to display nutritional information, meaning consumers are familiar with seeing calorie content on the majority of items sold in the retail sector, such as supermarkets and convenience stores.

In contrast, the out of home sector typically sells non-prepacked food and is therefore not required to display nutritional information. This makes it difficult for consumers to make informed, healthier decisions when purchasing food and drinks from such businesses.

Calorie labelling legislation is intended to help consumers make healthier decisions, and aims to encourage businesses to reformulate the food and drink they offer to provide lower calorie options for their customers.

Businesses with fewer than 250 employee’s are not subject to the regulatory requirement at this time, however are encouraged by the government to also voluntarily adopt calorie labelling in order to support consumers to make healthier food and drink choices.