Healthy eating campaigns ignored
by the government? By (Georgia G.)
According to campaigners
there has been slow
progress with getting the
food industry to introduce
healthier eating habits.
The consumer group “Which?” done
an investigation, which found many of
the major firms in the food
industry had not went through
with
the
government’s
responsibility deal.
The voluntary group was
launched a year ago to
encourage moves such as
reducing salt and trans-fats
in food.
A number of health groups including
the British Medical Association and
Diabetes UK refused to sign up, they
claimed, their reasons being that “the
government was not being tough
enough with the industry”.
A year on and Which? has found that
some progress has been made on
some of the key pledges.
Although some progress has been
made, there is still a lot more to be
made, statistics show only 2 of the top
restaurants
provided
calorie
information.
Surprisingly the fast food outlets
done better with the likes of
“McDonald’s” “KFC” and “Pizza
hut” on board.
Three of the top 5 coffee shops
signed up including “Starbucks” and
“Marks and Spencers”.
The group has gone to ministers to
put pressure on the industry. Which?
Executive director Richard Lloyd said:
"The current approach is overly
reliant on vague voluntary
promises by the food industry.”
Health secretary Andrew Lansley
said:
“The number of organisations
involved had more than doubled to
top 370 since the start.”
He also said: “this meant 70% of
fast food and takeaway meals
would have calorie labelling and all
the major supermarket chains had
committed to removing artificial
trans-fats and promoting alcohol
unit awareness in their stores.”
However British Retail Consortium
food director Andrew Opie has a
different opinion he said; There's a lot
to be proud of. Tackling public health
is a long-term issue and there's now a
solid foundation for future work. It's
a shame a consumer group like
Which? isn't doing more to
acknowledge that."
Ministers claim to be
When asked ‘what actions do you
think the government need to take to
make food industries provide more
calorie information and develop new
healthy eating habits she answered:
“Very detailed labels on food should
be compulsory, eg. high fat and high
sugar.”
When asked “Why do you think the
food industry are having these
problems today?” she answered “the
message isn’t getting across so people
don’t realise the risk of having a poor
diet”.
When asked “do you think the food
industry will ever promote more
healthy eating campaigns?”, she
answered “No, if ever, it will be a
long time”.
However British Retail Consortium
food director Andrew Opie has a
different opinion he said; There's a lot
to be proud of. Tackling public health
is a long-term issue and there's now a
solid foundation for future work. It's
a shame a consumer group like
Which? isn't doing more to
acknowledge that."
Ministers claim to be
including setting a deadline for
legislation if more progress was
not made in some areas.