Digest: Supermarkets and food system transition

As policy gradually begins to show signs of joining up health, affordability and food system change, in food retail, there are green shoots that suggest a parallel shift may also be underway.

Our latest digest examines retailer announcements and shifts in the last year, alongside the government policy that is prompting their methods and ambition.

💡Quick take:

Retailer strategies are aligning with government health policy. Over the past year, UK supermarkets have oriented around the 10‑Year Health Plan, which emphasises prevention and improving diets through structural changes, rather than individual behaviour change.

Healthy food sales targets are gaining traction. Retailers such as Tesco have begun reporting the proportion of food sales classified as “healthy”. Tesco met its self-imposed target of increasing sales of healthy food to 65% by the end of 2025. This move mirrors and arguably strengthens the case for proposed mandatory reporting of healthier food sales through the Food Data Transparency Partnership.

Targets are getting more granular. Several supermarkets have committed to targets for specific food categories, including increasing plant-based proteins, fruit and vegetables, and fibre-rich foods, with Lidl leading on protein split commitments.

Store environments are changing. Retailers have increasingly changed the in-store food environment, including clearer nutrition labelling and promotion of healthier options. Many have also expanded plant-based product ranges and vegetable-led ready meals, as well as promotional incentives for healthier foods, including discounts on fruit and vegetables and loyalty-scheme rewards for nutritious purchases.

Weight-loss drugs are reshaping the retail response. There has been a proliferation of protein or nutrient-rich ready meals for GLP-1 users who are eating less food overall, although the emphasis on convenience food suggests retailers are concerned about bottom lines as food sales potentially fall.

Deep dive

👨‍💻 Mandatory reporting is getting closer, but the details are still contested 

There is a notable shift among food retailers faced with pressure to be transparent about healthy food sales, thanks to the government’s Food Data Transparency Partnership (FDTP). Now in its fourth year, the partnership brings together government, industry and experts across several working groups. Its Eco Working Group is co-chaired by Judith Batchelar, former Sainsbury’s brand director, and currently deputy chair of the Environment Agency. Its focus is on developing the specific metrics that will be reported, including the Nutrient Profiling Model (NPM) scores and classification of high-fat, sugar or salt (HFSS) foods. Whether this reporting will be mandatory, and in what form, remains a key point to be confirmed.

An update in September 2025 indicated that the FDTP is expected to be transferred to the Food Strategy Advisory Board (FSAB), according to industry reports. This could be seen as the government shifting from a stand-alone partnership towards the broader national food strategy framework. It could also be seen as a delay or dilution of responsibility by folding the focused initiative into a wider framework, with the risk that momentum for real industry change is lost.

⛑️ The 10-Year Health Plan puts food industry on notice

One of the major announcements to come out of the 10-Year Health Plan was made in early 2026: the government’s so-called ‘world-first partnership’ with the food industry, which it claimed will see food retailers and manufacturers ‘make the healthy choice, the easy choice’.

While they will have the choice as to exactly how they do that, reporting and targets for healthy food will be the key outcome measure. Major supermarkets reportedly welcomed the new standards, with Tesco publishing an open letter asking the government to make healthy food sales reporting mandatory across the sector. The UK’s largest supermarket said this would mean companies would compete to sell healthier food, and was widely viewed as a system-level intervention, with the potential to change behaviour across the entire retail sector.

As the FDTP continues to wrangle over what exactly counts as healthy food, recent reporting has suggested that any mandatory reporting may not begin until 2029, with a consultation expected to open this spring.

🛒 Supermarkets are crucial for food system change

In May 2025, the Food Foundation released its Plating Up Progress report, examining how UK supermarkets influence diets and sustainability. It found that supermarkets control about 95 per cent of UK food sales, giving them major influence over what people eat. While some retailers have begun setting targets for healthier food sales, few report or set targets for plant-based protein sales. This report has become a frequent reference point for UK food policy research on supermarket accountability and dietary change.

🫘 The WWF protein methodology remains industry benchmark

With protein an important linchpin in changing diets for the better, so far, nine retailers, representing over 80 per cent of the major UK supermarkets, have adopted the ‘WWF Basket’ methodology to report on protein source food sales, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Coop, M&S, Lidl and Aldi. The WWF states that “protein food type disclosure is an important step on a company’s journey to mitigating climate and nature risks and supporting consumers to adopt healthier and more sustainable diets”.

🌱 Lidl sets targets for plant-based food sales and protein splits

Lidl has become one of the most proactive UK supermarkets in promoting plant-based diets, combining sales targets, product expansion, pricing strategies, and store layout changes. It has already tripled its plant-based product range, and has set a target for 25 per cent of total protein sales to come from plant-based sources by 2030 (up from 18 per cent in 2024). It has also committed to increasing sales of whole plant foods, including fruit, veg, whole grains and legumes, by 20 per cent by 2030. And it has introduced a dedicated plant-based section in store, addressing a common barrier where plant-based foods are scattered across multiple aisles.

That target is notable because plant-based products often face criticism for being too processed. By setting goals for whole foods as well as meat alternatives, Lidl is addressing that concern head-on. This is something that NGOs, including the Food Foundation and ProVeg International, have highlighted as a leading initiative in the retail sector and an important step toward aligning supermarket offerings with the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet.

🍠 M&S focuses on the fibre gap as a route to healthier baskets

With a trend for ‘fibre-maxxxing’ taking off on social media, M&S released new research looking into low intake of dietary fibre, and ways of increasing it. Its report Bridging Britain’s Fibre Gap is a useful guide to fibre consumption, as well as the barriers to eating more fibre as part of a healthy diet, including knowledge, labelling confusion and affordability.

⚖️ Weight loss drugs are reshaping retail 

As GLP-1 medication use spreads across the UK (estimated to be about three per cent of the population so far), retailers have been scrambling to respond to a potentially game-changing shift in food habits. While not directly linked to food system change, the flurry of new products on the market, from M&S Nutrient Dense range, to Co-op’s Good Fuel, are designed to help people eating less to still consume the sufficient amount of nutrients and vitamins.

The key phrase, though, is eating less. Numerous studies have found that users consume 25-30 per cent fewer calories per day. Some analysts have spotted that retailers are probably driven more by fear of lost volume sales and an impact on profit, than they are by the potential for healthy eating.

Meanwhile those using GLP-1s often require support and nutritional advice for any weight loss to be long-term, which is often not provided by the private pharmacists supplying the majority of these drugs. While weight loss drugs do offer a potential fire-break in the junk food cycle, without a parallel health policy to shape retail response, the risk is at best a lost opportunity, and at worst, a proliferation in the ready meal market instead of a meaningful shift towards a healthy, whole-foods based diet.

🔎 Retail change is coming; we need to watch closely 

The nascent changes in retail policy suggest there is some appetite for interventionist, systems-based change to reach healthier diets. There is plenty of space for scrutiny, however: from junk food advertising loopholes (billboards replacing banned TV advertising spring to mind), to the quagmire of bureaucracy that threatens to slow down the ambition of the Food Strategy and Food Data Transparency Partnership.

But this is no time for purists, and we need all available levers of change. Not least from the sector responsible for selling the vast majority of the food we eat.

2026 will no doubt bring more pledges and promises, and they all need to come with the accountability and delivery that the country needs.

If you’re working on system change in a food retail context, we’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch.