Tougher junk food rules would do us all good
The UK is heading for a season of discontent. Prices are spiralling, possible energy blackouts loom, public services are crumbling, and soon there will be no more three-for-two deals on Quality Street.
Curbs on multibuy promotions for unhealthy foods are set to begin in England in a year’s time, as part of a series of anti-obesity measures pushed by former prime minister Boris Johnson. Scotland and Wales plan their own versions. Yet Johnson’s government had already delayed the English reforms by a year from 2022 and his shortlived successor Liz Truss floated the idea that they could be scrapped altogether.
As the economy flounders, with particular pressure on low-income households, the measures to reduce promotions and advertising for food high in fat, salt and sugar are easily portrayed as Scrooge-like. A new administration grappling with double-digit inflation may be tempted to roll them back or delay indefinitely. That would be a mistake.
Chocolate is trickier. Attempts to produce lower-sugar chocolate have so far proved almost as shortlived as Liz Truss’s premiership. But regulation will encourage development of healthier packaged foods and push companies to promote them. Excess treats at knockdown prices will not solve a shameful and mounting malnutrition problem.
Government measures to cut the amount of salt in food, combined with the threat of enforcement, dramatically reduced salt in bread in the early 2000s. The shift in taste was too gradual for people’s palates to notice, and research found thousands of lives were saved.
Now, a shift away from junk food is crucial to combating obesity which is already costing the health service an estimated £6.5bn a year and causing escalating human misery. A government reluctant to take “nanny state” measures will find itself on the hook for yet more health costs instead.
As low-income households grapple with a precipitous drop in living standards, a few relatively healthy bargains are the least a new administration can offer them. Food brands may complain, but they are capable of rising to the challenge.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Judith Evans
