Make healthy foods more attractive, the government indicates to supermarkets

Food companies must facilitate the purchase of healthy food, as part of new government plans announced on Sunday.

Supermarkets and food manufacturers in England will join the government to combat obesity rates by encouraging people to make their weekly store healthy.

The ministers say that it will be up to food retailers to decide how they do this, but that could involve promotions on healthy foods, penalty loyalty points to encourage healthy options or modify the provisions of stores.

The secretary of ghost work and pensions said that it was not up to the government to tell people what to buy, describing the objectives of the compulsory government as “nanny state”.

“They had 14 years old in opposition to think about what they wanted to do about the NHS,” said MP Helen Whately to Sky News with Trevor Phillips, adding: “They had a year to the government, and the first thing of it seems to hide the chips”.

“Tell people what to buy, I think, is not up to the government. I believe in personal responsibility,” she said.

Plans can also involve the change of products to make them healthier.

We hope that the strategy will help make healthy foods more accessible to customers and relieve pressure on the NHS.

The policy will see the main food retailers relating to healthy food sales in order to increase responsibility – and the objectives will be agreed in partnership with the industry.

The plan is part of a series of measures aimed at improving the health of the nation which will be included in the plan at 10 years for the NHS in England, which should be published next week.

The Secretary of Health, Wes Street, said that the new strategy was “radically different” from the “nanny of the previous government” to dictate people prices, marketing “and instead” working with supermarkets “to encourage a healthier diet.

Speaking on BBC Sunday with the Laura Kuensberg program with the host Victoria Derbyshire, Streetting added: “If we have reduced our calorie contribution to only fifty calories per day, we can get much more than 300,000 children in obesity, 2 million adults”.

The next report will show that more than one in five children live with obesity when they leave primary school, going to almost one in three in the most disadvantaged areas – which costs NHS 11 billion pounds sterling per year.

A recent report has revealed that a basket of healthy food is more than double that of less healthy options.

The Food Foundation indicated that 1,000 calories of healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables cost £ 8.80, against £ 4.30 for the equivalent quantity of less healthy food, such as ready meals and processed meats.

Andrew Opie from the British Retail Consortium said that the news is “really positive”, but said that “all food companies” should work together to reduce obesity.

“Starting all food companies make a difference,” said Opie to the BBC.

“It cannot be supermarkets – we consume about a quarter of our calories outside the house, so unless we get all supermarkets, food retailers and restaurants on board, we will not move the dial on obesity.”

Opie said he agreed with the flexible government approach according to standards, because companies have “a lot of perspectives and data” on how we buy for food and what would be best for their customers.

Katharine Jenner, director of Obesity Health Alliance said: “The government rightly identified the deep cause of poor health related to obesity: a food system that makes health healthy.”

She said it was encouraging to see the government highlight the businesses “rather than placing the burden of people who already have trouble getting out of it”.

In addition to the new partnership, the government said it would also be:

• Offer vouchers to customers in exchange for being active and eating healthy, via a new application
• Double the number of spaces on the NHS digital weight management program, which supports obese people with diabetes or high blood pressure
• Explore the stricter rules on alcohol advertising to comply with the current regulations on the promotion of junk food

We hope that the new advice will reduce the entire contribution of sugar and calories from people.

The government has cited research showing that the reduction of only 50 calories per day would raise 340,000 children and two million adults in obesity.

If all those who are overweight reduced their calorie intake of only 216 calories per day, which is equivalent to a single bottle of carbonated drink, obesity would be divided by two, researchers said.

This is not the first time that the government has requested voluntary partnerships with industry. Over the past 20 years, many food reformulation programs have aimed to reduce salt, sugar and calories in certain foods.

The success was mixed with a thrust to reduce sugar in certain foods by 20% between 2015 and 2020 down.

Sarah Woolnough, of the King’s Fund reflection group, said that although it is well received, the impact of the program can be limited.

“Lots of less healthy food and drinks are purchased from local convenience stores and take -out dishes.

“The hard fact remains that unhealthy food is much cheaper and more easily available and therefore unless this change is part of a broader and complete strategy, it will not be enough.”

Additional reports by Rachel Muller-Heyndyk