Baby Feeding Law Group issue statement questioning use of cash equivalents to buy formula
On 4th August, the Baby Feeding Law Group (BFLG) issued a statement on the ‘Legal restrictions on the marketing of commercial milk formula and the cost-of-living crisis in the UK’
In it the BFLG stated that:
Recent calls for retailers to accept loyalty points, grocery vouchers provided by foodbanks and local authorities, and store gift cards as payments for infant formula are known inducements to purchase a product and examples of promotion.”
We were hugely concerned by this because current laws on formula marketing state that:
There shall be no point of sale advertising, giving of samples or any other promotional device to induce sales of infant formula directly to the consumer at the retail level, such as special displays, discount coupons, premiums, special sales, loss leaders and tie-in sales.”
Thus, if what the BFLG statement asserts is true, accepting cash equivalents as payment for infant formula would currently be prohibited by law.
Feed absolutely reject the premise that accepting cash equivalents is an inducement to purchase formula, or illegal, and the BFLG position is extremely concerning to us because Health Boards, Local Authorities and third sector organisations are currently providing grocery vouchers, shopping vouchers, Pay Point vouchers and store gift cards to families for the purchase of infant formula. The Government also provides cash equivalent vouchers in the form of Healthy Start and Best Start Foods cards for purchasing formula! Furthermore, current guidance issued by UNICEF UK, First Steps Nutrition and the National Infant Feeding Network (all co-signatories to the statement as members of the BFLG) recommend that provision of cash equivalents such as shopping vouchers and pre-paid cards can be adopted in lieu of direct provision of infant formula, and to support provision of infant formula where required, in line with the WHO Code.
This statement issued by the BFLG, identifying grocery vouchers provided by foodbanks and local authorities as illegal, contradicts current guidelines, rendering them unworkable, and puts families and professionals in a bureaucratic no man’s land where it is recommended that families be provided vouchers and gift cards to buy formula, but against the law for retailers to accept them.
Feed wrote to the BFLG as a matter of urgency to ask for clarification.
