Health chief: unhealthy food tax would cut child obesity

THE Chief Medical Officer is considering a tax on all unhealthy foods in a bid to reduce the levels of childhood obesity and persuade parents to buy fresh fruit and vegetables.

A review by Prof Dame Sally Davies will examine these ideas as well as further measures in order to halve the levels of childhood obesity by 2030.

Last year, more than 20,000 primary school children were classed as obese when they left school.

Although the food industry has claimed that adding taxes to high-calorie foods such as cakes, pizzas and ready meals would not prevent consumers from purchasing them, Dame Sally is giving it serious thought.

She told BBC News: “I want parents to be incentivised to buy healthy food. We need to make sure that fresh fruit and vegetables are cheap.

“Parents are then nudged to buy the healthy version because it’s cheaper. I want the basket of food parents buy to not cost any more.”

Dame Sally announced in December that she wanted to cut sugar and salt in everyday food, following the success of the sugary drink tax introduced in 2018.

But her suggested plans, which now include an added tax on sugary baby food, are yet to be finalised.

The ideas follow the Health Secretary’s suggestion of parenting classes to tackle Britain’s obesity epidemic. Matt Hancock told The Daily Telegraph he believed in “targeted support” for families, highlighting a scheme in Leeds which resulted in a fall in people developing weight problems.