The price gap between healthier and less healthy food is at its widest in over a decade, with the poorest families with children needing to spend 85% of their disposable income for a healthy diet. 

The findings are contained within the 2026 edition of the Food Foundation’s Broken Plate report, published this week. 

The report, funded by Nuffield Foundation, uses a range of metrics to build a snapshot of the UK food system.

The 2026 edition also finds that: 

• Healthier food is nearly twice as expensive per calorie as less healthy, with foods high in fat, salt and/or sugar alarmingly being the only food group to have seen a drop in price in the last year

• Fast-food outlets make up 1 in 4 places to buy food in England, rising to over 1 in 3 in the most deprived areas

• 40% of food and non-alcoholic drink promotions are on foods high in fat, salt and/or sugar

• Fruit and vegetables only account for 3% of traditional advertising food and non-alcoholic drink expenditure

Anna Taylor, executive director of The Food Foundation, said: “The Broken Plate report reveals that it is becoming increasingly difficult for struggling families to afford and access a healthy diet, despite promises from the Government to create the healthiest generation of children ever and reduce child poverty. This isn’t good enough.

“The government must press ahead with its commitments made in the 10-Year Plan, including the mandatory reporting of healthy sales by food businesses. Recent reports implied the government is considering delays to the health measures it promised only a year ago.

“This would be a grave mistake given the state of the UK’s food system, and the poor health suffered by its citizens. The government must take bold action now to fulfil its promises and ensure everyone can access the healthy and sustainable diet they deserve.”