How do we use sticks and carrots to get more carrot sticks?
In this section, we have pulled together resources that explore how regulations, taxation and incentives can be used to nudge stakeholders in the food system to do more for nutrition through public private engagement (PPE).
One of the best ways for governments to influence the behaviour of both businesses and consumers is to set clear priorities – often people simply do not know what to do when it comes to nutrition. This can be particularly challenging for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) who are trying to navigate the intricacies of legislation, regulations and taxation when it comes to producing, processing and marketing their products.
Governments should take the lead in establishing and enforcing standards for nutrition, using the best available evidence to inform strategies and policies. While all stakeholders – including businesses - should have the opportunity to participate in a transparent policy process, conflicts of interest from the food industry as well as other actors should not influence standard-setting. Academia and civil society can play an important role in holding governments accountable for public and consumer interests.
So what are the tools, levers and drivers that can help make it easy for everyone to contribute to making safe and nutritious foods accessible, affordable and desirable?
Top resources we think matter
Reports and discussion papers:
This report, compiled for the European Competitiveness and Sustainable Industrial Policy Consortium, gives a detailed look into the impact of food
Reports and discussion papers:
The Harvard Kennedy School Corporate Responsibility Initiative looks at what is needed to boost investment in value chains, especially from small a
Advocacy and policy:
Policy brief by the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition looking at the evidence for gov
Peer review:
This article in the British Medical Journal reviews strategies that governments can use to improve nutrition and health.
Reports and discussion papers:
On development, poverty, and autonomy: A case study of a World Bank public private partnership in Latin America
Case studies and tools:
Building public-private partnerships in food and nutrition: Workshop summary
Blogs/news/opinion:
Four accessible ways companies can drive social change
Audio/videos/podcasts:
Can private finance ever work for the world's poorest?
Blogs/news/opinion:
Reward food companies for improving nutrition
Blogs/news/opinion:
These 25 companies are more powerful than many countries
Blogs/news/opinion:
How should multinational companies be taxed?
Reports and discussion papers:
Food taxes and their impact on competitiveness
Blogs/news/opinion:
Sweetening the sugar tax
Advocacy and policy:
How tax havens plunder the poor
Blogs/news/opinion:
How can we tax the footloose multinationals?
Reports and discussion papers:
The roles of public and private development finance
Reports and discussion papers:
Fuelling the business of nutrition
Advocacy and policy:
Improving nutrition through enhanced food environments
Reports and discussion papers:
Corporate philanthropy, political influence, and health policy
Initiatives
The Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition
Through the power of its membership, GloPan convenes high-level meetings and dialogues around to help address barriers of change in low and middle income countries. These meetings are often framed around policy recommendations from its evidence-based briefs and reports, and tailored to specific country-level challenges. Importantly, GloPan sees the government as ultimately responsible for ensuring high-quality diets, but encourages policymakers to use a coordinated, multisectoral approach – and always cautions against underestimating the power and potential of the private sector to do good for nutrition.
The Food Foundation
The Food Foundation is an independent think tank that tackles the growing challenges facing the UK’s food system in the interests of the UK public. We provide clear analysis of the problems caused by the food system and the role of policy and practice in addressing these. We develop and articulate food policies that support and guide the UK public to make choices that improve their health and well-being and we inform and generate demand for new and better public and private sector policy and practice.
Stories
Healthier product reformulation in Singapore
Healthier Product Reformulation Singapore
This is a really helpful case study put together by IGD that looks at businesses response to a new government policy to reformulate foods. Below, we have highlighted some of the study’s most compelling findings that provide insight into how PPE can help accelerate progress for nutrition.
- Incentives are key to action: 92% percent of businesses involved said they would conduct additional R&D related to reformulation if there were government incentives to do so.
- Public sector funding is need for R&D: It would have been impossible for companies to conduct R&D for healthier products without funding through the Healthy Ingredient Development Scheme. This was particularly true for small businesses – and really crucial for nutrition in Africa and Asia where SMEs are the main supplier of foods to people in Africa and Asia. It is also worth noting that this finding is echoed in the Where business and nutrition meet report.
- More awareness on public health priorities. 83% of respondents said this would help stimulate more action around healthy food and products. This should be a clear signal that governments are not making it easy to find the latest policies and priorities, which add additional barriers for action from businesses.
- More awareness of nutrition targets/standards. 73% of respondents agreed that government priorities are not clear. Setting nutrition targets and standards through national nutrition strategies, food based dietary guidelines, and labelling regulations can help with this.
- More technical knowledge. PPE could support capacity building by facilitating B2B knowledge and technology transfer, as well as through government or donor funding to facilitate technical support from NGOs, academics or implementing partners (e.g.TechnoServe, Nutrition International, GAIN).
- Help with consumer testing. Ensuring there is a market and demand for nutritious foods can be a challenge, so it is understandable that 43% percent of respondents flagged consumer testing as a way to do more. As with R&D, perhaps public or donor funds could be used to help mitigate the risk of companies creating new, healthier food products or reformulating existing products to be more nutritious. There is also potential for B2B to support in this area, leveraging expertise from MNCs to support SMEs.
- Improving internal communications. Often change is led by a few nutrition champions within businesses and organisation. Perhaps one way to help support their internal advocacy efforts is to ensure they have access to data that shows the positive impact of investing in nutrition – in terms of social good and ROI.
UK Sugar Tax: Will it work?
The UK Has Introduced a Sugar Tax, But Will It Work?
Blog by Jacqui Thorton of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine looking at the personal story of Sandra Williams whose addiction to fizzy drinks shows some of the challenges of breaking consumer habits. Throughout the globe, the sugary drinks levy is a growing trend with different interpretations of what a high sugar content means in each country. What the levy has done is force manufactures to reformulate – speaking to the power of taxation as an incentive for business to positively shape the nutrition content of products.