The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Scotland has launched a new round of funding to support Scottish food and drink manufacturers to make their food healthier ahead of new regulations.
As part of FDF Scotland’s Reformulation for Health Programme, Scottish SME food and drink manufacturers can now apply for up to £5,000 to support reformulation projects that improve the nutritional content of existing products.
It comes ahead of high fat, salt, and sugar (HFSS) regulations due to come into force in the country on 1 October 2026. Under new Food (Promotion and Placement) (Scotland) Regulations 2025, products classified as HFSS using the UK Nutritional Profile Model (NPM) score will face restrictions on where and how they can be promoted in store.
Categories in scope include cakes and biscuits, savoury snacks, pizza, ready meals, soft drinks with added sugar, confectionery, breakfast cereals, yoghurts and desserts, and chips.
HFSS products in scope will no longer be eligible for location-based promotions, such as end of aisle or store entrance displays, or volume price promotions like buy one get one free or multi buy offers.
Notably, HFSS legislation differs between England and Scotland, with The Food (Promotion and Placement) Regulations coming into force in October 2022 and Healthy Food Advertising Regulations in December 2025 in England.
With the Scottish regulations now less than six months away, FDF Scotland is urging manufacturers to act – particularly those that rely on instore promotions or seasonal and provenance campaigns.
Alongside the funding, the team offers free, confidential support, including help to understand the regulations, calculate NPM scores and identify reformulation opportunities across all product categories. Funding of up to £5,000 can be used for costs such as trial ingredients, nutritional analysis, recipe development software and specialist consultancy. NPM scores will be calculated before and after reformulation to demonstrate nutritional improvements.
However, the funding can be used to improve the nutritional properties of products not in scope of the regulations as well.
“With the Scottish HFSS regulations coming into force this October, reformulation is one of the most effective ways businesses can protect shelf space and promotional activity – while also improving the nutritional content of their products,” said Joanne Burns, Reformulation for Health manager at FDF Scotland.
“Through our Reformulation for Health Programme, we offer free, confidential support to help manufacturers understand their NPM scores and identify realistic reformulation options. This new round of funding is designed to remove some of the cost and risk involved, and we would strongly encourage Scottish SMEs to take advantage of the support now, ahead of the regulations coming into effect.”
Manufacturers can apply via the NPM Reduction Fund survey or access free support by emailing reformulation@fdfscotland.org.uk.
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