The case for mandatory reporting to enable targets for healthy and environmentally sustainable food: means, motive and opportunity

TL;DR

The paper argues that mandatory reporting policies can drive systemic changes in food systems to improve health and environmental outcomes.

Contribution

The paper introduces a policy framework leveraging mandatory reporting to shift incentives from individual to systemic dietary change.

Findings

Individual-focused interventions have limited impact compared to business-targeted ones.

Mandatory reporting can realign business incentives to support healthier and sustainable food targets.

Systemic change is necessary to address diet-related health inequalities and environmental harm.

Abstract

Evidence suggests we must change both the type of food we consume and the way we produce it, at a transformational scale, to protect population and planetary health and avoid exacerbating existing diet-related health inequalities.

We summarise key findings from behaviour change theory and literature, highlighting the need for means, motive and opportunity to enact behaviour change. We evaluate and contrast the implications for interventions aimed at individuals vs. businesses, arguing that policy must shift focus from individual responsibility to systemic change.

Past public health interventions have tended to focus on individuals’ motivation, with limited impact, while interventions that target the motivation of businesses, if enacted, would likely garner substantially greater impact. Governments implementing mandatory reporting could provide the foundation to realign the incentives that shape business practices. This would subsequently enable mandatory targets to be introduced on foods sold, providing in turn the necessary conditions — the means and opportunity — for individuals to enact dietary change.

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