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Less Healthy Food Regulation UK

Starting 5 January 2026, the UK Government will enforce new advertising regulations for Less Healthy Foods (LHF).This legislation applies to businesses with 250 or more employees and restricts online and TV advertising of LHF products.

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Written by Laura Porter
Updated yesterday

Deliveroo is updating our tools and partner processes to help affected brands stay compliant.

Who Is Affected

You’re in scope if your brand:

  • Has 250+ employees (this includes company-level size, not just franchise outlets)

  • Runs paid advertising for specific food or drink items within the UK

What Counts as “Less Healthy Food”?

A product is considered LHF if:

  • It falls within regulated categories (e.g. certain food or drink groups), and

  • It scores:

    • 4 or more for food

    • 1 or more for drink
      on the UK Nutrient Profile Model

Deliveroo Tooling Updates

1. Ads Hero Image (For Paid Placements)

When you pay for a featured or promoted position (e.g. carousel or sponsored placement), you’ll be required to use a compliant ad image.

How to upload a compliant Ads Hero Image:

  1. Go to the Ads section of Partner Hub.

  2. A pop-up will notify you that your image must comply with LHF regulations.

    • Alternatively, you can click the warning message at the top of the homepage.

  3. Upload and confirm your compliant image.

    • This image will automatically apply to all ad listings under your organisation.

Please note your new image might take approximately 10 minutes to show to the consumer.

2. Menu Tagging

Marking items as “Less Healthy Food” ensures they are excluded from sponsored placements such as:

  • Search results

  • Cuisine tiles

  • Homepage promotions

Note: These items won’t be visibly flagged as LHF to customers in the app — tagging is for compliance only.

How to Tag Items in Menu Manager

  • Go to your item list in Menu Manager.

  • On the right-hand side of each item page, select the checkbox to mark it as “Less Healthy Food”.

  • Once marked, these items will automatically be excluded from ad placements in search and promotions.

How to Tag via API

For integration partners:

  • Use the Menu API to apply a “Less Healthy Food” classification.

  • You’ll need to build this functionality into your menu management experience.

  • Once tagged, these items will also be excluded from paid ad placements.

Further Resources

For more details about the UK regulation, visit the UK Government’s official Less Healthy Food regulation page.

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