Strategic review: our progress

Ensuring a successful circular economy

Over the past year, FDF has worked hard with government, retailers, NGOs and others to improve the design and implementation of the UK’s packaging reforms.

We want to ensure the UK develops a successful and cost-effective circular economy in packaging that’s value for money for our members. Our work is helping to ensure the UK has an efficient, industry-led Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system, a UK wide Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), and an effective FDF-led Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) into for EPR.

Shaping trade policy to work better for members

We’ve pressed for improvements to UK border and trade policy, so these work better for members and consumers. This has saved businesses an estimated £250M per year by limiting the scope of ‘not for EU labelling’.

We’ve worked to influence the Windsor Framework, the Border Target Operating Model and free trade agreement negotiations from the Gulf Cooperation Council to US, EU and India. We have provided guidance and advice to help members manage these changes and take advantage of new trade agreements to boost business.

Supporting balanced diets

Through industry-led innovation and strategic advocacy, we’ve driven tangible health improvements—from cutting salt, sugar, and calories in products to influencing nutrition policy. Action on Fibre added 190m extra servings of fibre to UK diets, while our reformulation efforts in Scotland eliminated billions of calories in partnership with government bodies.

We’ve elevated industry leadership through media coverage, parliamentary tastings, and stakeholder engagement, ensuring companies' proactive health commitments are recognised. With Wales now aligning HFSS promotion regulations with England, we’re creating a simpler, consistent landscape while continuing to push for UKwide reformulation partnerships.

Building a sustainable food system

In 2024 we launched Ambition 2030, our industry’s flagship environmental sustainability strategy.

This focuses on ensuring our members get practical guidance and support at every stage of their journey and is designed to drive collaboration across the supply chain. We saved food and drink manufacturers an estimated £70m per year by negotiating a new phase of Climate Change Agreements until 2030, providing long-term clarity for planning and investment in sustainability.

Strategic Review 2024/25

Download the Strategic Review 2024/25

Ensuring food safety

We’ve continued to work to ensure food safety regulations are not only robust, but also agile enough to reflect the changing environment in which our members operate. Central to this is our work to alert members to changes in EU legislation, and where these diverge with the UK, across all key food safety and labelling legislative areas.

We have also launched new guidance across a number of areas, including on managing changes to allergen information and on gluten free labelling, aimed at small and medium sized businesses.  These two together had a massive 35000 downloads over the course of the year!

Working with governments across the UK to support members

Underpinning all of our work is FDFʼs engagement with the UKʼs governments and parliaments to ensure they understand the critical role of food and drink manufacturing to our economy and society.

This includes engaging with Secretaries of State, Ministers, MPs, MSPs and MSs from every party to highlight key industry priorities and barriers to growth FDF is representing the industryʼs interests as the UK and devolved governments develops their food, industrial, trade, environmental and health strategies.

Making the case for members against a backdrop of inflation

We helped members by making the case for supply-chain fairness and better retailer relationships.

We engaged the Government, the Bank of England and the media on the causes and impacts of the economic pressures which have led to persistent high inflation, and explained how the industry has worked to shield shoppers and mitigate a cost-of-living crisis, all with a view to ensuring adaptive and sensitive government policy.

Providing the ingredients for growth

We have helped government understand the investment and growth barriers our members face, so that these are reflected in the Industrial Strategy and Food Strategy.

Our ‘Ingredients for Growthʼ report sets out 40 key actions to remove barriers and boost innovation, while the Food and Drink Technology Task Force was set up to accelerate AI, automation, and digital transformation based on Newtonʼs ‘Future Factoryʼ report. We pushed for reform to the Growth and Skills Levy and apprenticeship funding alignment across the UK. On employment rights, we sought to ensure legislative changes strike the right balance between worker protections and business flexibility.