What is HFSS, and does it apply to my product?
HFSS stands for high in fat, sugar or salt. It's a label the UK government uses for food and drink that it wants to limit, mainly to tackle childhood obesity.
What happens if a product is HFSS?
HFSS products face restrictions on how they're sold. In England, since October 2022, larger shops can't put them in prime spots like checkouts, store entrances or the ends of aisles, or the online equivalents. Across the UK, there are also limits on advertising them on TV and online. Restrictions on multibuy deals, like "buy one get one free", have also been planned. Scotland and Wales have their own rules.
For a food brand, this matters because those prime spots are where a lot of sales happen. A buyer may ask whether your product is HFSS before they decide where it goes in store, or whether to list it at all.
Does it apply to me?
It depends on three things:
- Your product category. The rules only cover certain categories, like biscuits, cakes, crisps, sweets, breakfast cereals, ice cream and soft drinks. A product outside those categories isn't restricted, even if it's high in sugar.
- The size of the business selling it. In England, businesses with fewer than 50 employees are exempt from the in-store rules, and so are shops smaller than 2,000 sq ft.
- Your product's score. Whether a product counts as HFSS is decided by a scoring system called the Nutrient Profiling Model (NPM).
What Canoli does
Canoli calculates your NPM score as you build your recipe, and shows whether it passes or counts as HFSS. That's the part that's down to your recipe, and the part you can change.
Canoli doesn't check your product category or business size. So use Canoli's result alongside a check of whether your category is in scope.
To understand how the score itself works, see "What is the Nutrient Profiling Model (NPM), and what are A points and C points?"
For more detailed instructions on how to check your NPM score in Canoli, subscribe to one of Canoli’s subscription tiers here, and you’ll be able to access our dedicated help pages.
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