Mondelēz International chairman and chief executive Dirk Van de Put warned that Britain’s tightening junk food regulations are making the country less attractive for investment and could cost it future factory projects. He told the BBC that constant regulatory changes create uncertainty and impose hefty costs, noting around a hundred different nutritional targets introduced in the past two decades. Van de Put said the UK is the company’s second-biggest market globally, but future decisions on where to build new European plants might not favour Britain. He also criticised the Government’s exclusion of food and drink manufacturing from its eight priority industrial strategy sectors, calling the omission weird given the industry accounts for about a quarter of Britain’s industrial turnover and supports roughly 500,000 jobs. Mondelēz, which owns Cadbury, Toblerone and Oreo, employs nearly 100,000 people worldwide and operates eight UK sites including the historic Bournville factory.
Mondelez International IncUK junk food regulations create uncertainty and costs, potentially deterring investment in UK factories.
Cadbury is a Mondelēz brand; UK regulations may affect its parent's investment decisions.