Supermarkets told to cut shoppers' calories in obesity crackdown
As part of a government initiative aimed at taking some pressure off the NHS, food retailers and manufacturers will "make the healthy choice the easy choice" for customers in a country with the third highest adult obesity levels in Europe.
Supermarkets will be required to report sales data and those that fail to hit targets could face financial penalties, Nesta, the innovation agency which initially developed the policy, suggested...
The new scheme, announced on Sunday by the Department for Health and Social Care, is part of the forthcoming 10 Year Health Plan, through which the government is seeking to shift from sickness to prevention to alleviate the burden on the NHS.
A chap is bound to wonder about the level of enthusiasm behind the 10 Year Health Plan. It's one of those notions where a fly on the wall could tell us a great deal about the attitudes of those who sat round a table and formulated it. Were they as keen as low-calorie mustard?
Were they enthused with their mission? Did they crack a few jokes at the first meeting to break the proverbial ice? Did they offer disparaging anecdotes about people they had seen in supermarkets and their awful diet as revealed by the contents of their shopping baskets? Concerned, caring anecdotes of course.
6 comments:
If the government is really keen on tackling obesity, and promoting healthy eating, perhaps they could start with the Cabinet? It appears that they have more chins than the Beijing telephone directory, while my porky mate David Lammy looks as though he could miss stuffing his face in the subsidised restaurants once in a while.
Sorry, for a moment there, I forgot the politico's mantra, "Do as I tell you, not do what I do".
Penseivat
From Looper:
"Soylent Green is a dystopian film set in 2022 where the poor eat human flesh and the rich eat natural food. The ending reveals the shocking truth behind the food industry and the social commentary of the film."
I wonder if future fines will be raised on Aldi, Lidl and Tesco but Waitrose and M&S will magically escape.
Being a lardarse on benefits is a lifestyle choice for many and it'll take a helluva lot more than namby-pamby initiatives like this to change things.
Penseivat - that's a point, David Lammy needs to lead the way on this one with a public weight loss goal and some low calorie Lammy recipes on the government website.
DJ - I bet Waitrose and M&S adopt the 10 Year Health Plan with enormous enthusiasm, the ads almost write themselves. Smaller portions, same price, it's a potential bonanza.
Vatsmith - I agree and it's easy to see why some would choose to be a lardarse on benefits when the alternative is 40 hours a week on minimum wage.
If the government is really keen on tackling obesity they could start with the NHS. Land whales R Us would pretty much describe some hospital staff…
Peter - yes, we've seen a few lumbering around the corridors.
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