Ultra-processed food
The largest food and drink producers in the UK are dependent upon selling ultra-processed food. What’s the cost and why does it matter?
The Better Food Index
A ranking of the 30 largest food and drinks companies in the UK on their actions and commitments towards a fair and sustainable food system.
In a nutshell
Food companies have an enormous impact on the planet, our health and our livelihoods. And yet, much of the food on our supermarket shelves is made by opaque companies that are rarely scrutinised.
The Better Food Index ranks the UK’s 30 largest food and drinks producers according to their performance and transparency around key measures of sustainability, affordability and nutrition.
The pillars
The Better Food Index is organised into 5 performance-based ‘Walk’ pillars: Environment, Social Impact, Nutrition, Affordability, Financial Sustainability.
Transparency, and a stand-alone commitments-based ‘Talk’ pillar which tracks companies’ targets and memberships are measured separately.
Environment
Focuses on the impact of the companies on the environment, from emissions to water use to deforestation-free sourcing.
Social Impact
Focuses on social responsibility, ethics and justice, including indicators on equal pay, modern slavery and animal welfare.
Nutrition
Focuses on the nutritional content of products a company produces, such as high levels of salt, fat, sugar and reformulation.
Affordability
Focuses on the relative pricing of goods different companies produce, as well as the pricing of healthier foods.
Financial Sustainability
Focuses on the capacity of a company to absorb financial shocks and sustainably grow.
Transparency
Focuses on the comprehensiveness of companies’ reporting.
Talk
Focuses on companies memberships and commitments.
Authors
Researched by Maddy Diment, Sophie Barnett, Will Mower, Jeevan Vasagar, Joe White and Alex Inch. If you would like to get in touch with the team, please email betterfoodindex@tortoisemedia.com.
Insight reports
The Tortoise Intelligence team creates bespoke insight reports on our indices, and offers licensing of our data. Please contact charles.sheppard@tortoisemedia.com for more information
Further reporting
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