Restaurants and pubs back Responsibility Deal

The voluntary Responsibility Deal aims to promote calorie labelling on menus, provide alcohol unit information on drinks, and reduce salt and remove trans fats from food items.

Speaking on the launch of the deal today, health secretary Andrew Lansley said the aim of the initiatives was to help improve public health without relying on costly and lengthy regulations.

“The deals published today demonstrate the effectiveness of our radical partnership approach to deliver more and sooner,” he said.

“These deals will work alongside the Department’s broader plans to take a bold new approach to public health. Public Health England will give local people the money and the power to improve our nation's health. The money will be ringfenced to be used as it should be — for preventing ill health.”

Responsibility Deal partners​

So far, there are over 170 companies and organisations that have signed up as partners, thereby pledging their support to the voluntary initiatives.

Lansley said this was only a “first step”, and is calling on more groups to sign up and to develop further pledges, either collectively or alone.

Signatories in the hospitality sector include pub and restaurant operators Enterprise Inns, Greene King, Harvester, JD Wetherspoon, Mitchell & Butlers, Punch Pub Company, and Whitbread, Pizza Express, The Real Greek, and YO! Sushi.

Fast food and coffee chains signed on include McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, KFC, Costa and Pret A Manger.

Drink producers and retailers include: Diageo, Carlsberg,Heineken, JW Lees, Young & Co’s Brewery and Molson Coors.

Catering and service providers Compass Group and Sodexo have also partnered the deal, as well as hospitality groups and organisations such as British Beer & Pub Association, British Hospitality Association, British Institute of Innkeeping, British Retail Consortium and Food and Drink Federation.

A full list of partners is available here.​

Responsibility Deal pledges​

Key collective pledges agreed include:

• Calories on menus from September this year;
• Reducing salt in food so people eat 1g less per day by the end of 2012;
• Removal of artificial trans-fats by the end of this year;
• Achieving clear unit labelling on more than 80 per cent of alcohol by 2013;
• Increasing physical activity through the workplace; and
• Improving workplace health.