Qualitative research on reformulation with food manufacturers in Northern Ireland

In support of the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA’s) wider objective of promoting healthier and
more sustainable food, Ipsos UK in Northern Ireland was commissioned to conduct qualitative
research to investigate food manufacturers’ engagement, views and challenges around food
reformulation. Fifteen one-to-one depth interviews were conducted with food manufacturers in
Northern Ireland.
Key Findings
Awareness of the UK Government’s guidelines on sugar, salt and calorie reduction is mixed
across food manufacturers in Northern Ireland. Awareness is impacted by business size,
with larger and medium-sized businesses holding more knowledge about the specific
guidelines due to employing staff with more technical expertise, and working with retail
sector customers who often encourage reformulation.
The extent to which businesses have engaged with, or are currently engaging with
reformulation varies, and those who have engaged in reformulation have done so with
varying success. Those who have made previous attempts to reformulate food products
have faced challenges with regards to overall product quality, including changes to taste,
texture or mouth feel. Motivations to reformulate are individual to each business but are
largely driven by end cost of the product, exploring healthier product lines to meet
consumer demand, or adhering to retail customers’ guidelines.
Several enablers to reformulation were identified, including perceptions of retail customer
demand, perceptions of changing consumer preferences, and support and partnership
working with suppliers, retail customers and experts in nutritional and technical fields.
It is clear that the reformulation journey for each business is individual and multi-faceted.
Generally, where reformulation has taken place, there is a commercial drive underpinning
reformulation efforts. Perhaps unsurprisingly, food manufacturers must consider financial
viability of any significant change to their activities. Where health benefits of reformulation
exist, in some cases this is secondary to increasing profit or retaining retail, wholesale, or
consumer business.
Barriers to food reformulation vary based on business size and the types of food product
manufactured. Key barriers include a perceived lack of need to reformulate any food
products (for example, that foods manufactured are not suitable for reformulation); wideranging cost implications such as food wastage, redundant stock and purchase of new
ingredients; impact on product quality and integrity; consumer acceptance; and time and
resourcing challenges. The extent to which these barriers are relevant to businesses
depends on the size of the business (with larger businesses more likely to have additional
resource or budget to undertake reformulation), expertise within individual businesses, and
individual motivations or goals to undertake reformulation.
Targeting guidance which aims to support businesses to include reformulation as a key
business goal or priority, and increases awareness and knowledge of the UK Government
guidelines, may benefit businesses of all sizes, but may be more crucial for micro and
smaller-sized businesses. This may take the format of summarised written communications
which signpost businesses to relevant organisations or representatives that can support
with reformulation.
Personalised support may be useful for businesses, including connecting food
manufacturers with external bodies such as local technical colleges, funding bodies and/or
business support. This would mean they can access a dedicated representative with
knowledge on reformulation, who can provide tailored advice based on the individual
business, their business plans and manufacturing capability. Where financial support is
available to enable businesses to engage in reformulation, this may particularly benefit
smaller and medium-sized businesses.