A healthy food standard will be introduced for supermarkets and other retailers as part of government plans to tackle obesity levels in the UK.

As part of a government initiative aimed at taking some pressure off the NHS, food retailers and manufacturers will “make the healthy choice the easy choice” for customers in a country with the third highest adult obesity levels in Europe.

Supermarkets will be required to report sales data and those that fail to hit targets could face financial penalties, Nesta, the innovation agency which initially developed the policy, suggested.

Businesses will be free to choose how to implement the new healthy food standard, which aims to make their customers’ average shopping healthier.

Measures could include reformulating products and tweaking recipes, changing shop layouts, offering discounts on healthy foods, or changing loyalty schemes to promote healthier options.

Obesity is one of the root causes of diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

The new scheme, announced on Sunday by the Department for Health and Social Care, is part of the forthcoming 10 Year Health Plan, through which the government is seeking to shift from sickness to prevention to alleviate the burden on the NHS.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Obesity has doubled since the 1990s and costs our NHS £11bn a year, triple the budget for ambulance services. Unless we curb the rising tide of cost and demand, the NHS risks becoming unsustainable.

“The good news is that it only takes a small change to make a big difference. If everyone who is overweight reduced their calorie intake by around 200 calories a day – the equivalent of a bottle of fizzy drink – obesity would be halved.

“This government’s ambition for kids today is for them to be part of the healthiest generation of children ever.

“That is within our grasp. With the smart steps we’re taking today, we can give every child a healthy start to life.”

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Environment Secretary Steve Reed said: “It is vital for the nation that the food industry delivers healthy food, that is available, affordable and appealing.”

An ‘important step’

Michelle Mitchell, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said: “Businesses can play a major role in supporting people to make healthy choices, and this important step could help to reduce rising obesity rates.

“Being overweight or obese is the second biggest cause of cancer in the UK, and is linked with 13 different types of the disease.

“The UK government must introduce further bold preventative policies in both the upcoming 10-year health plan and National Cancer Plan, so that more lives can be saved from cancer.”

Some of the UK’s biggest supermarkets appear to have reacted positively to plans for a new standard of healthy food, with Ken Murphy, Tesco Group CEO, saying: “All food businesses have a critical part to play in providing good quality, affordable and healthy food.

“At Tesco, we have measured and published our own healthier food sales for a number of years now – we believe it is key to more evidence-led policy and better-targeted health interventions.

“That’s why we have called for mandatory reporting for all supermarkets and major food businesses and why we welcome the government’s announcement on this.

“We look forward to working with them on the detail of the Healthy Food Standard and its implementation by all relevant food businesses.”

Simon Roberts, chief executive of Sainsbury’s, said: “We’re passionate about making good food joyful, accessible and affordable for everyone and have been championing the need for mandatory health reporting, across the food industry for many years.

“Today’s announcement from government is an important and positive step forward in helping the nation to eat well.

“We need a level playing field across the entirety of our food sector for these actions to have a real and lasting impact.”

Health Secretary Wes Streeting will be appearing on today’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips show – watch on Sky News from 8.30am.

Nike’s costs will go up $1bn (£728m) this year if US President Donald Trump’s tariffs remain at the current level, the company has told investors.

It follows a warning from the sports brand last month that it would raise prices due to the taxes imposed on imports.

Work to bring down costs is under way, including reducing supplies from China to the US.

It’s to reduce the amount of footwear made in China and imported to the US from 16% currently to a “high single digit” figure with Chinese supply being “reallocated to other countries around the world”.

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On 2 April, Mr Trump announced country-specific tariffs which hit China hardest and escalated after several rounds of retaliatory rises.

After an agreement between Washington and Beijing the levy was brought down from a 145% tariff to 30% on Chinese goods.

Price rises for consumers will start to come into effect in the autumn.

The latest warning on tariffs comes as Nike reported the worst quarterly results in more than three years.

Revenues were $11.1bn (£8.1bn) – the lowest since the third quarter of 2022.

It has been dealing with the after-effects of an unsuccessful move to sell direct-to-consumer with Wall Street analysts also critical of its dependence on lifestyle products and reliance on fashion trends.

Nike chief executive Elliott Hill had returned from retirement last year to again take the top job at the company.

The worst of the trade wars have already occurred, Mr Hill said, with “the headwinds to moderate from here”.

Police investigating the Horizon Post Office scandal have now identified seven suspects, with more than 45 people classed as “persons of interest”.

A “scaled-up” national team of officers has been in place for over six months as part of Operation Olympos – dedicated to looking at crimes related to the Horizon Post Office scandal.

The number of suspects has increased to seven since before Christmas, as part of a UK-wide investigation involving 100 officers.

Four have now been interviewed under caution.

Hundreds of subpostmasters were wrongfully convicted of stealing after faulty computer software created false accounting shortfalls in Post Office branches between 1999 and 2015.

Commander Stephen Clayman, Gold Command for Operation Olympos, described a “huge shift” in terms of their investigation and “significant progress”.

“We’ve got over four million documents that are going to rise to about six million documents,” he said, “but we’re beginning to methodically work through those and looking at individuals who are associated with certain prosecutions.”

He described a “pool of about 45 people plus” classed as “persons of interest”, with that number “expected to grow”.

He added that officers have questioned “some” in the past and “more recently” and are looking at the offences of perverting the course of justice and perjury.

The “wider pool” of persons of interest is made up of Post Office investigators, lawyers, and “management” across Fujitsu and the Post Office.

The team of officers will be identifying actions which could amount to criminal offences on both an individual and corporate basis.

Any decisions made on whether to charge will not happen until after the Post Office inquiry findings are “published and reviewed”.

The Operation Olympos officers are part of four teams – a London hub and three regional teams – who have been described as “highly motivated” across England and Wales.

Police Scotland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland are also helping.

Cmdr Clayman said that officers “will be building a robust case” to pass on to the Crown Prosecution Service.

He also added that, compared to the inquiry, his officers will have to “prove this to the criminal standard…a much, much higher standard”.

He described feeling “optimistic” and “confident” that the teams will have “some successful outcomes”, and said they are “working as hard and as quickly as (they) can”.

Teams are involved in what has been described as a “focused strategy which gets to the heart of the issues”.

Their investigations are being overseen by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Metropolitan Police.

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Victims have also been told that the police will not be reinvestigating every case but “taking a speculative look at cases” to focus on key people involved and evidence for prosecution.

Operation Olympos is also making use of special software to help process the amount of evidence to sift through material in relation to key events and identified cases.

Of the four suspects interviewed under caution, two were questioned in late 2021, one in late 2024 and the most recent in early 2025.