Healthier catering initiatives in London, UK: an effective tool for encouraging healthier consumption behaviour?

Abstract

The increasing amount of ‘unhealthy’ food consumed outside the home is thought to be a major contributory factor to growing levels of obesity. To tackle the problem and promote changes in catering and consumption behaviour, initiatives designed to encourage out-of-home caterers to provide healthier menus or adopt healthier cooking practices have been developed. Such voluntary agreements, rather than legislation, are the UK government’s preferred strategy. This paper reports on and explores issues arising from an evaluation of one such initiative – the Healthier Catering Commitment, piloted with over 80 independent businesses in London in the UK. Analysis of data on take-up of the scheme, and interviews with businesses and those involved in assessing them against the scheme’s criteria, suggests the extent to which businesses are prepared to make changes to their catering practices. Operational barriers as well as aspects of the local trading environment are shown to impact on the level of business commitment to the initiative. In considering the degree to which the scheme’s criteria inform, widen or restrict consumer choice, the paper adds to the debate on effective strategies for encouraging behaviour change. It also comments on the extent to which voluntary agreements are likely to be an effective means of ensuring a healthier food environment, and the extent to which government intervention is justified in the interests of improving public health and tackling health inequalities.

Keywords:

• consumption
• healthy public policy
• health inequalities

Acknowledgements

This paper incorporates the findings of a research project commissioned by the Greater London Authority and the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, and a further related study commissioned by the Inner North West London Primary Care Trusts. I am grateful to Simon Doff and Antje Witting of London Metropolitan University for their involvement in the research.

Notes

1. Email communication from Lucy Green at the NPD Group stated that, ‘The NPD Group tracks the UK foodservice market continuously via it’s CREST service and can identify trends such as the growth of fast food eating out occasions.’

2. The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) combines a number of indicators, chosen to cover a range of economic, social and housing issues, into a single deprivation score for each small area in England. The higher the score the greater the level of deprivation.