Momentum toward healthier diets is building, but uneven, Planeatry Alliance finds

Momentum toward healthier, more sustainable diets was gaining ground across parts of the food system, but progress remained uneven and vulnerable where deeper structural change was required, according to a new Barometer published by Planeatry Alliance.

• Planeatry Alliance identified accelerating progress where commercial incentives, data and decision-making authority aligned.

• Protein diversification, portfolio shifts and capability-building showed signs of progress but remained uneven.

• Policy delivery, agricultural support systems and basket-first approaches continued to lag behind ambition.

Published in February 2026, Building Our Food Future: The Barometer drew on interviews with leaders across retail, manufacturing, farming, cities, nutrition, behavioral science, investment and civil society. Rather than restating the case for change, the report focused on how healthier, more sustainable diets were being delivered under real commercial and political constraints.

Across those interviews, leaders described a system under pressure but not standing still. Action was no longer confined to pilot projects or long-term targets, yet delivery varied sharply depending on where authority, incentives and operational capability sat.

The Barometer assessed 10 previously identified levers for change and grouped them into three momentum states: accelerating, emerging and fragile. The result was a picture of progress that was tangible in some areas and stalled in others.

One of the clearest shifts identified was in how healthier diets were being discussed inside companies. Leaders said the conversation had moved beyond ethics or reputation alone, toward resilience, risk management and long-term performance.

“When you believe it’s going to unlock commercial growth or mitigate a potential future risk, it’s a different conversation to simply ‘it’s the right thing to do,’” said Lauren Woodley, Head of Nutrition and Sensory Science at Nomad Foods.

That shift was supported by economic evidence cited in the report, including global estimates that the food system generated more than US$15 trillion a year in hidden health and environmental costs, and analysis showing higher average margins among companies with healthier product portfolios.

Investors were also increasingly treating nutrition as financially material. One interviewee noted that once nutrition entered investor discussions, it tended to remain part of the agenda rather than being reversed.

Data and digital tools were another area where progress was advancing more quickly. Organizations reported far greater visibility into nutritional and environmental performance, driven by improved measurement and analytics. That visibility, however, was not always matched by internal capability.

“We can’t unsee the data,” one leader told the researchers, pointing to a gap between insight and execution.

Digital platforms were described as an increasingly important point of influence, with algorithms and defaults shaping what consumers saw and bought. “The algorithm will reshape the basket,” one contributor said, reflecting a shift in power toward those designing digital choice architecture.

Food environments were also changing, particularly where regulation created consistency across markets. Interviewees highlighted the growing role of product placement, labeling, pricing and procurement standards in shaping default choices.

“You need to shape the food environment to influence people,” said Sophie Attwood, Head of Behavioural Science at Behaviour Global.

Retailers and cities were cited as early movers, using public procurement, marketing restrictions and labeling systems to reinforce healthier defaults rather than relying on consumer intention alone.

Other areas showed progress, but at a slower and less consistent pace. Protein diversification was one example. Major European retailers had adopted explicit protein targets, and some plant-based categories had seen rapid growth.

“It’s a 60/40 split, 60% plant-based, 40% animal-based proteins, which is aligned with the latest science on healthy and sustainable diets,” said Brent Loken, Global Food Lead Scientist at WWF. “We need a focus on protein diversification.”

Despite that movement, leaders cautioned that price sensitivity, cultural norms and misinformation continued to limit scale in many markets.

Organizational capability was another constraint. Interviewees repeatedly said the challenge was no longer knowing what to do, but having the skills, structures and cross-functional coordination to deliver consistently.

“We’re going to win as a business if we deliver taste plus health,” Woodley said, pointing to the need to embed nutrition into mainstream product development rather than treating it as a specialist function.

The Barometer identified several areas where progress remained fragile. Basket-first approaches, which focus on the nutritional and environmental impact of the whole shop rather than individual products, were widely seen as necessary but were not yet embedded in commercial decision-making.

Most reporting systems, incentives and governance structures still operated at product or category level, limiting confidence to invest in basket-level change.

Agricultural support systems were another weak point. While awareness of the need for reform was growing, interviewees said policy delivery had lagged, leaving farmers exposed to risk and undermining progress elsewhere in the system.

“I would describe our food and farming system as an example of market failure,” said Amali Bunter, Head of Quality and Sustainability at Lidl GB.

Policy was described as both powerful and unstable. Direction of travel was clearer across health, climate and food policy, but fragmented implementation and political cycles continued to slow progress.

“Markets must incentivise healthier foods – this is not yet happening at scale,” said Greg Garrett, Executive Director of the Access to Nutrition Initiative.

Trust emerged repeatedly as a cross-cutting issue. Public confidence in food companies remained weak, and leaders warned that adversarial narratives often limited what organizations felt able to do.

“If you name someone the villain of your story, you become the villain of theirs,” one interviewee said.

Planeatry Alliance said the Barometer was intended as a visibility tool rather than a scorecard. By highlighting where progress was advancing and where it remained constrained, the organization aimed to help decision-makers focus on the conditions needed to convert isolated successes into wider change.

The report concluded that momentum was no longer hypothetical, but neither was it secure. Where incentives, capability and governance aligned, progress tended to hold. Where they did not, gains remained partial and exposed to reversal.