Changes in compliance and sodium content of packaged foods after four years of Australia’s voluntary sodium reformulation targets

Background/Objectives Between 2020-21, the Australian Government released voluntary sodium reformulation targets for 33 food categories under the Healthy Food Partnership (HFP). The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of these targets at the end of the implementation period. Subjects/Methods Nutritional composition data for packaged foods sold by major Australian retailers were obtained from the 2019 and 2025 FoodSwitch databases. We assessed changes in the proportion of HFP-targeted products (n = 4,507 in 2019; n = 6,184 in 2025) meeting the sodium targets, changes in compliance across the 10 largest manufacturers, and changes in the mean sodium content of HFP-targeted foods between 2019 and 2025. Results Over the four-year implementation period, overall compliance increased from 51.1% to 59.1%. The largest increases were observed for bacon (+ 41.5 percentage points), potato snacks (+ 28.0) and ham (+ 27.7), while compliance declined in some categories including pizza (− 14.3), prawns, squid and calamari (− 13.4) and Asian-style sauces (− 8.4). Among the 10 largest manufacturers, eight increased compliance with the HFP sodium targets. The mean sodium content of HFP-targeted foods increased by + 6.2 mg/100 g (relative change: +1.3%). Conclusion After four years of implementation, the HFP sodium reformulation targets achieved only modest gains in compliance and failed to reduce the overall sodium content of targeted foods. These findings highlight the limitations of voluntary reformulation and strengthen the case for mandatory sodium targets for Australia.