SUPERMARKERTS in Scotland should be made to sell affordable healthy ready meals rather than price cap a list of essential items which could be “never-ending”, a nutrition expert has said.
Professor Lindsay Jaacks, based at Edinburgh University, has argued for a statutory requirement to be placed on major retailers to make available a ready meal under £2 that meets certain health requirements such as containing whole grains, high in plant content and being low in salt, sugar and saturated fat.
Jaacks argues this would be more beneficial to the health of the nation than the Scottish Government capping the price of a subjective list of essentials, which she argues assumes most people cook from raw staples rather than grabbing food on the go.
In a recent survey from Food Standards Scotland people cited taste, convenience and affordability as important in driving their food decisions.
Jaacks told The National: “Rather than opposing these trends, we should embrace them, and flood the system with healthy, affordable food ‘on the go’.”
The Scottish Government launched a consultation last week on capping the cost of essential food and drink items in supermarkets across Scotland, which ministers plan to introduce under public health powers.
First Minister John Swinney said that he had a "public health responsibility" to provide an affordable nutritious diet.
“The essential food list – we could spend years trying to figure that out,” Jaacks said.
“The reality is people need to afford healthier food now. I worry about that process of coming up with that list and it being a never-ending process that industry could also influence.”
According to The Food Foundation, households in the lowest income fifth would need to spend 49% of their disposable income to afford the government recommended healthy diet.
Jaacks believes introducing a healthy ready meal deal would go much further to improve public health outcomes than what the Scottish Government is currently proposing.
She said: “We propose that the list is dropped and the UK and Scottish governments instead consider a statutory requirement that all supermarket retailers must make available a ready meal under £2 that meets certain requirements such as being reasonably low in salt, sugar and saturated fat, plant-forward, and containing whole grains.
“They could even consider a requirement that wherever possible ingredients are sourced from UK farmers.
“A statutory affordable healthy ready meal works because it meets people where they’re at, rather than assuming people will cook from raw staples.
“Imagine an Everyday Meal Deal (Affordable Provision) (Scotland) Act 2026, analogous to the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act 2021, mandating that supermarket retailers make these affordable healthy ready meals available.
“Perhaps it’s time for the meal deal to evolve into your favourite £2 ‘everyday meal’ or ‘scran deal’, encouraging competition between retailers for provision of the most sought-after ready meal.
“It’s time for government to get serious about making healthy, convenient food more affordable.”
Jaacks branded the Scottish Government’s plan is a “missed opportunity” to take action on improving access to healthy food.
She also suggested moves could be made to increase the price of unhealthy items.
“The plan is a bit incomplete,” she said.
“If you’re going to intervene in the price of foods that consumers see, there’s a missed opportunity for the Scottish Government to raise funds through expanding taxation, for example, on unhealthy foods, or advocate for that with UK Government so the unhealthier foods get more expensive.
“I really hope there are not any unhealthy foods in the proposed price cap list because we do need to make healthier options the cheaper and more accessible option.”
