
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?
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 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.
Focuses on the impact of the companies on the environment, from emissions to water use to deforestation-free sourcing.
Focuses on social responsibility, ethics and justice, including indicators on equal pay, modern slavery and animal welfare.
Focuses on the nutritional content of products a company produces, such as high levels of salt, fat, sugar and reformulation.
Focuses on the relative pricing of goods different companies produce, as well as the pricing of healthier foods.
Focuses on the capacity of a company to absorb financial shocks and sustainably grow.
Focuses on the comprehensiveness of companies’ reporting.
Focuses on companies memberships and commitments.
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.
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
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?
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