NEW REGULATIONS Regulations of foods high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS)

Received the following e-mail from Amazon today, but I am becoming quite worried that this could mean a huge drop in sales. After briefly looking at the new guidelines on .gov which state the new legislation is targeted at medium to large businesses with 50+ employees, the e-mail seems to suggest it will impact my small business with 5 employees. Every product I sell is a HFSS product and it’s looking like promoted listings will be disabled from 1 Oct 2022 and potentially promotional multi buys moving forwards. Any help or guidance on this subject would be appreciated. Here is a copy of the e-mail:

Hello,

The Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations, which restricts the promotion and placement of foods high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) will come into effect on October 1, 2022. It is fundamental that we work collaboratively to ensure our businesses are prepared for the required changes.

The list of HFSS categories which are impacted by the legislation is as follows:

(1) Prepared soft drinks that are high in sugar (excluding alcohol substitutes and medicinal drinks); (2) Savoury snacks and crisps; (3) Breakfast cereals; (4) Chocolate and sweets; (5) Ice cream and similar; (6) Cakes; (7) Biscuits and cereal bars; (8) Morning goods. For example: Pastries; (9) Desserts and puddings; (10) Sweetened yoghurts; (11) Pizza; (12) Potato based products; (13) Ready meals and breaded products

In the coming weeks we will contact you with a request to provide HFSS information for your current ASINs as well as any new products you are creating for listing within the above categories. This information will include 10 new attributes as follows:

• The seven nutritional values that make up your scores for 100g of food or drink:
o Energy Content (kcal)
o Saturated Fat
o Sugars
o Dietary Fibre
o Protein
o Sodium (mg)
o Fruit, Veg & Nuts (%)
• Score A = (points for energy) + (points for saturated fat) + (points for sugars) + (points for sodium)
• Score C = (points for % fruit, vegetable and nut content) + (points for fibre) + (points for protein)
• HFSS Status: Healthy or Less Healthy = Score A minus Score C

Specific guidance on how to calculate the values set out above is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-nutrient-profiling-model.

There is no action for you at this time. However, you will have an opportunity to upload this information through Seller Central at a later date. We will inform you when this is possible and you will have 60 days to enter the information for each of your ASINs within the relevant categories. The purpose of this email is to notify you ahead of time so you are aware of the data required and to assist you in preparing for this legislation.

Note that any ASINs without the mandatory information in the catalogue following the 60-day deadline that we’ll provide at a later date will automatically default to a “Less Healthy” status and will face the promotional and placement restrictions set out within the regulations as a result. Under the regulations, sellers are responsible for providing accurate information.

The Amazon Services team