Journal article
Regulatory responses to ultra-processed foods are skewed towards behaviour change and not food system transformation
T Northcott, M Lawrence, C Parker, B Reeve, P Baker
Nature Food | NATURE PORTFOLIO | Published : 2025
Abstract
Growing evidence suggests that diets high in ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are harming human and planetary health. UPFs therefore pose a complex regulatory challenge, yet, to date, little research has systematically assessed how governments have responded to UPFs in national food policies. Here we analyse data from the NOURISHING database to assess the scope and strength of UPF-related regulatory interventions worldwide, using three frameworks—namely, NOURISHING, the Nuffield Ladder and the Modalities of Control framework. Of the 417 UPF-related measures identified, most imply food processing or mention UPF examples rather than refer to processing or UPFs specifically. The scope of action is ..
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Awarded by Deakin University
Funding Acknowledgements
T.N. was supported by a Postgraduate Research Scholarship provided by Deakin University. P.B. declares funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies to support research, travel and conference attendance relating to a programme of research on ultra-processed foods, from an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship award (Project #FT220100690), and from a Sydney Horizon Fellowship award from the University of Sydney. M.L. and P.B. received support from the Australian Research Council Discovery Project titled 'Reforming evidence synthesis and translation for food and nutrition policy' (DP190101323). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.