We must tackle this scandal... it’s killing us

FOOD presents the greatest health challenge of our time. Almost 20 per cent of deaths worldwide are attributable to unhealthy food choices and diet is the second highest risk factor for early death after smoking. But while people can quit smoking, food is more complex – everyone needs to eat.

In Britain, the system that has developed to feed us has evolved into a highly efficient, high-tech, profitable and interconnected web of companies and organisations that allow us to put appealing food on our tables at low prices.

But we cannot deny the damage that the food system is doing to our health: what we eat is killing us.

Ten per cent of five-year-olds and 20 per cent of 11-year-olds are obese and 3.1million people in the UK are registered with diabetes (up from 2.4million in 2010).

But for four million children in the UK, a healthy diet – defined by the Government as five fruit or vegetables a day with meals to be based on starchy foods such as potatoes, some dairy, beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat, etc – is unaffordable.

What’s more, the food environment in which we make choices about what we eat, especially for those in poor areas, is extremely unhealthy. Sadly, the odds are insurmountably stacked against us.

Diet-related illness is not the result of a failure of personal will – for example, the inability to resist more chocolate – but a failure of political will. Successive governments have failed to shape a system in which we can choose for ourselves to protect our health rather than harm it.

Even when we step out of the front door and decide what to eat, we’re influenced by the mass media. Almost half (46 per cent) of all food and drink advertising is aimed at encouraging us to buy confectionery, snacks and soft drinks.

New data from the Broken Plate report by the Food Foundation think-tank – of which I am a trustee – shows that one in four places to buy food are fast food outlets. Indeed, unhealthy options are so much more readily available, carefully marketed to be more attractive, and are certainly more affordable.

We know that having easy access to profusions of takeaways and fast food shops is linked to the likelihood of being overweight or obese. Another problem is that choices are swayed by the fact that unhealthy foods are, calorie for calorie, three times cheaper than healthy options.

We need systemic change on a massive scale but we won’t get this without vision from the Government. There must also be leadership from the food industry. Firms can no longer claim they’re simply catering to customer demand: they must play a crucial role in shaping that demand.

We need to stop marketing unhealthy food to children. Our post-Brexit agriculture policy should include public funding for the marketing of fruit and vegetables.

As for fast food outlets and chain retailers, they must commit to offering healthier products. Redesigning VAT on food to favour healthier choices would help make better foods more affordable, as would ending price promotions on unhealthy products.

Already, a number of initiatives are leading the way. This year, the Food Foundation launched Veg Power and ITV’s #EatThem ToDefeatThem advertising campaign to get children eating more vegetables.

All this shows radical change is possible. But it’s up to law-makers, who have withdrawn from food policy, to take action. The Government and food industry must join together to tackle a scandal that potentially has a fatal impact on all our lives.