ACI Group: The Opportunities of Junk Food Advertising Ban
In England, one in five children are overweight by the time they start primary school. In a move to combat this, the UK joins countries like Chile and Taiwan, to restrict advertising unhealthy food to children. Online adverts for junk food will be banned from television before 21:00, from October 2025.
“The ban appears to be very comprehensive, covering all paid online advertising as well as pre-watershed TV ads, although time will tell if it’s really as watertight as it seems,” says Karsten Smet, CEO of ACI Group. “What the ban represents is the strongest argument yet for manufacturers and brands to include functional ingredients, like fibre and protein, into their products.”
ACI Group is a market-leading distributor which has been helping SMEs punch above their weight for over 35 years by connecting product suppliers and manufacturers across the world. The company operates across the food, chemicals, road surfacing, software and health sectors, with a specialism in high-quality, complex, niche products that can add value to our customers’ operations.
“I’ve overseen the digital transformation of ACI and our offering to our customers,” says Karsten. “It’s my job to impart what I see as the ACI values of creativity, a passion for service and a fearless disruptive streak onto every level of the business. Day-to-day, my focus is on continuing to bolster our vast network of suppliers and adding efficiency to the business through technology, innovation, and new working practices.”
The self-described ‘tech enthusiast’ has worked with industry giants like Microsoft and Rackspace, but ensures that he takes time to balance life outside of the digital world.
“With a passion for my family, hockey and a love for walking Maggie the dog, I try to stay grounded while navigating an at times stressful and dynamic career in technology and the supply chain,” he says.
Here, he explores the implications of the junk food advertising ban, alongside other challenges for the food sector.
How the junk food advertising ban can be a recipe reformulation
For Karsten, the scope of the ban is more far-reaching than he might have expected. Often, regulations like this are watered down during the consultation process, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
“We’ve known for a long time that consumers respond positively when a product makes verifiable nutrition and health claims. Now, those claims will ring out louder than ever, as competing products may lose their share of voice,” he says. “The scoring system used to categorise products as “less healthy” – and therefore in-scope of the ban – works like golf, in that lower scores are better. Including fruit, veg, fibre and protein in a product’s recipe reduces its score, making it more likely that it won’t be subject to the ban.”
In the context of the junk food advertising ban, recipe reformulation could be the difference between a brand maintaining its share of voice and ceding it to the competition. However, Karsten feels that this also presents many opportunities for manufacturers and brands to freshen up their portfolios and meet evolving consumer demands.
“Many shoppers – particularly younger generations – are demanding more functional ingredients in a wider variety of products to support their wellbeing in a convenient way that they can easily incorporate into their daily lives.”
Adding proteins, polyphenols and fibre to recipes could be an effective way of tapping into this enthusiastic consumer base.
“We understand, however, that reformulation is often easier said than done. That’s where distributors like ACI can help, connecting manufacturers to alternative ingredients such as Synevo GR1, a high quality gluten replacer. It offers like-for-like replacements for gluten flours, which can raise the quality of gluten-free products.”
If a company doesn’t already target the growing gluten-free segment, ingredients like this make it much more viable for them to do so with quality, competitive products.
Wider challenges for the food sector, from rising costs to geopolitics impacting supply chains
It is rising costs which remain a problem across the board. There are so many reasons underpinning these price rises, but ultimately all that matters is protecting our customers’ bottom lines.
“Keeping a huge, reliable network of suppliers on file while using digital technology to maintain full end-to-end visibility of the supply chain means we can react quickly to, or even pre-empt, many supply chain issues, which helps us keep costs as low as possible,” Karsten explains. “For example, if an ingredient is in short supply and its price starts to rise, we can pivot to an effective, affordable alternative quickly. If our demand forecasting AI highlights a potential future problem, we can look into it and plan accordingly.”
Proper planning and preparation prevent poor performance, as they say.
The Middle East crisis, the continued war in Ukraine and other geopolitical issues mean ingredient supplies and costs throughout the global supply chain are volatile. Add in the effects of climate change and extreme weather on crop yields and tightening legislation around junk food and sustainability and it only gets harder to predict.
“The only thing businesses can do is prepare for every eventuality by thoroughly mapping out their supply chain tiers, modelling how different events might affect each tier and incorporating dual sourcing strategies where possible.”
******
Make sure you check out the latest industry news and insights at Food Digital.
******
Food Digital is a BizClik brand