The Opposition has called on the government to enforce stricter legal levels of sugar, salt and fat content in the food industry, as the Government launches a new health awareness campaign.
Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham has suggested introducing legal limits on such ingredients, instead of the current voluntary agreements used by the food industry, to tackle ongoing issues of child obesity in the UK, where a third of 10- and 11-year-olds are overweight or obese.
In fact, England has one of the highest rates of obesity in Europe, with over 60 per cent of adults and over 26 per cent of girls and nearly 23 per cent of boys being considered overweight or obese.
Labour’s call to action has come at the same time as the Government has launched its Be Food Smart campaign, which aims to expose the hidden levels of sugar, salt and fat in food.
The scheme will include collaboration between television network ITV, food manufacturers and advertising from Change4Life, which will host the first health-focused advertising break takeover, starting tonight.
It will highlight specific facts, such as a large pizza containing more than a wine glass of fat, to help make consumers more aware of what is in their food and will include a range of healthy eating tools and information, from recipes to money-off vouchers.
Public Health Minister Anna Soubry, who launched the campaign, said that making healthier, balanced meals on a budget can be a challenge for families, so the new Change4Life campaign offers families free healthy recipes and money off those much-needed cupboard essentials to encourage everyone to try healthy alternatives.
The campaign will also see the launch of a new smartphone and tablet application, featuring a meal mixer and a shopping list function to help people make healthy choices in the supermarket.