Junk Food Adverts 'face Tv Ban'

Adverts for junk foods would not be shown on television before 2100GMT as part of a government plan to tackle obesity. Manufacturers and advertisers will be urged to agree a voluntary code of regulation, according to reports in two Sunday newspapers.

The proposal is contained in the government's Public Health White Paper, to be published this week.

Other measures include a new "traffic light" labelling system identifying unhealthy foods.

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Regards,
Simon

Edited to add a link to the Executive Summary of the Public Health White paper:
Executive summary (pdf 1.24MB)

Hi Simon,

I feel like I've already replied to something similar to this in the past....?


I have a few ideas for tackling obesity.....
Power cuts from 6:00pm to 9:00pm every night (kids can't play on games consoles or watch TV),
A free football, basketball, netball or tennis set etc for every child.
The streets, safe for children to play on,
Petrol at £200 per gallon so people walk everywhere and finally a weather control machine so that it's always sunny instead of always raining

Bonno

Tony sign him up!

Regards,
Simon

Having read the proposal for the nutrient model, see attached, I believe that it is does not aid the consumers' understanding of a healthy, balanced diet.

e.g. if a high fat snack food was graded it would score 10 points for fat content. If I decide to fortify the product with calcium or iron I could score -10 points, or more. This would put this high fat product into the GREEN / HEALTHIER category which means "EAT LOTS". Surely not what the Government intended.

The traffic light system is too simplistic; what we need is improved education of consumers so they understand what they are eating.

The traffic light system is too simplistic; what we need is improved education of consumers so they understand what they are eating.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I like the idea in principal but you're right Yorky (red, amber, green) is too simplistic. That seems to be the consensus of opinion. However, if you take a look at the FSA's website it appears there are a variety of 'food signposting' concepts under consideration.

http://www.food.gov....postingconcepts

http://www.food.gov....v/signpostpress

If they can develop a system that's both simple and accurate then I'm all for it. As well as helping consumers it may force the food industry to develop healthier products. It's definitely worthy of discussion.

Regards,
Simon