Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Step three of the The Obesity Policy and Action Plan – A Healthy Weight for Ireland’ (OPAP, DOH 2016) relates to food reformulation. It aims to ‘secure appropriate support from the commercial sector to play its part in obesity prevention and agree food industry reformulation targets and review progress’.

To achieve this a Food Reformulation Subgroup of the Obesity Policy Implementation Oversight Group developed a (Department of Health, 2021).

During the process of development of A Roadmap for Food Product Reformulation in Ireland, workshops were held with members of the food industry, including trade associations, to provide input into the Roadmap.

Since the Task Force was established in 2022, regular events and meetings have been held for and with the food industry and trade associations to inform and clarify food reformulation targets and identify priority food categories for food reformulation. To date the Task Force has held four industry wide events, two in person and two online. Alongside this, the Task Force has held three category focused reformulation meetings which trade associations have supported in organising and attending. The Task Force meet at least twice a year with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland Food Service forum which is composed of representatives of the out of home sector, including trade associations and the Retail Forum which is made up of representative from the retail sector. Finally, the Task Force communicate through their Food Reformulation Network which has over 400 members and keep their webpage up to date with guidance, publications, and updates .

The Task Force met with over 70 stakeholders in 2022, and 113 stakeholders in 2023. Many of these meetings took place with the food industry, meetings were also held with government bodies and agencies, universities, charities and professional organisations. Since 2022, at the request of Food Drink Ireland, the Task Force has facilitated 3-4 meetings per year. Stakeholders have been asked to publish a statement of support and commitment to the ‘Roadmap for Food Product Reformulation in Ireland’. Whilst many stakeholders have statements of support for reformulation, to date no trade association has made a written statement of support specifically for A Roadmap for Food Product Reformulation in Ireland.

An evaluation of the work of the food reformulation taskforce towards the end of the four-year project will be undertaken. The impact of reduction in nutrient targets, improved quality of nutritional composition of packaged and processed foods and, engagement with food industry partners will inform subsequent action. Currently food reformulation is voluntary and further resources to support industry in meeting nutrient reduction targets and or consideration for mandatory legislation will be required as potential policy options based on the outcomes of the taskforce.