Supermarkets face ban on sweet-filled ‘guilt aisles’

SUPERMARKETS are set to be banned from displaying sweets at checkouts in an attempt to help parents resist their children’s ‘pester power’.

With a third of children overweight by the time they leave school, ministers are determined to push ahead with plans to banish what they call ‘sugar mountains’ in ‘guilt aisles’.

It is one of the key parts of the Department of Health’s childhood obesity strategy, which also includes banning buy-one-get-one-free offers and multibuy deals. A consultation on the plans begins today.

Officials said small businesses may be excluded from the rules and companies’ views will be taken into account.

But they cited polls suggesting 83 per cent of parents have been pestered by children to buy food at checkouts, with 70 per cent likely to give in.

The Department of Health said: ‘The measures will target volume and location-based promotions of sugary and fatty products, which are a key driver of childhood obesity.’

But Kate Nicholls, of the industry body UK Hospitality, last night condemned the timing of the consultation ‘while the food industry is trying to manage planning for a no-deal Brexit’.