No appetite for axing junk food promotion

PLANS to end promotions of unhealthy foods have sparked a backlash from Scotland’s supermarkets and small traders.

Nicola Sturgeon’s Programme for Government included a move to ‘limit the marketing of products high in fat, sugar and salt which disproportionately contribute to ill-health and obesity’.

Ministers will consider ending multi-buy promotions on foods such as pizza, crisps and chocolate – in the same way as they axed similar deals for alcoholic drinks. But business leaders last night urged them to scrap the proposals.

Stuart Mackinnon, a spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses, said: ‘Independent retailers have seen a rollercoaster of regulatory change in the last five years.

‘With new regulations already in the pipeline, we don’t need extra regulation in other areas. The impact on businesses who have already seen many government initiatives in recent years should be considered and I would make the case that there should be a moratorium on new regulation.’

Ewan MacDonald-Russell, who is head of policy at the Scottish Retail Consortium, which represents many of Scotland’s biggest supermarkets, said: ‘We have always been clear any measures to restrict promotions should be done in a mandatory manner and apply to the whole of the food and drink industry, so it is operating on a level playing field.’

Cancer charities said any move to ban promotions on unhealthy foods could finally help tackle Scotland’s obesity timebomb.

Professor Linda Bauld, cancer prevention champion for Cancer Research UK, who is based at the University of Stirling, said: ‘The commitment to limit junk food marketing is a step in the right direction but, to progress, regulations are needed to restrict multi-buy offers on unhealthy food and drink.’