Celebrity chefs call on MPs to act on child obesity crisis
he said: “This is May Day for the obesity crisis – and you can read the word May any way you like.”
Fearnley-Whittingstall raised his concern about declining vegetable sales, saying: “That’s a very serious worry. We have to look at how we get kids eating more veg. Ofsted needs to be assessing both the quality of school meals and the quality of food education.”
Junk
He then moved on to advertising, telling the committee: “When less than 1.2 per cent of all the food advertising in the UK is focused on fruit and vegetables, you know something is wrong.
“It’s not just about curbing the negative effects of the avalanche of junk food advertising that we’re all forced to watch. It’s got to be about finding ways to promote the marketing and advertising of healthy foods, vegetables in particular. If we’re going to try and get back to a place where the nation’s diet is essentially the bedrock of good health, rather than something that has started to make more people sick, then fruit and vegetables are absolutely front and central.”
Oliver said the obesity crisis is a “national security issue” because it costs the taxpayer a huge amount of money through the NHS.
He said: “I think to say it’s a catastrophe or an emergency is fair and true. I think if you speak to anyone in the NHS – doctors, paediatricians, dentists – this is a massive problem.
“If you spoke to Mark Carney at the Bank of England, is British kids and adults being unhealthy and less productive good for the economy or bad? It’s bad.”
The chefs are calling for measures including a ban on junk food being advertised on TV before 9pm.