Strict curbs on junk food advertisements during popular British TV shows, such as The X Factor, and measures to limit promotions of unhealthy snacks are likely to be included in a long-awaited government white paper on child obesity.
A draft of the document, seen by the FT, suggests that the government has taken aim at television advertising around Saturday night shows.
These escape the usual restrictions on advertising during children’s programmes because, as family programmes, children are not their sole audience.
The government will “put in place additional targeted and proportionate measures to further reduce families’ exposure to adverts for unhealthy food”, according to the draft document.
It said: “This will mean that fewer of the shows watched by many of our children — including some popular Saturday night entertainment — will contain adverts for unhealthy foods.”
One option under consideration is an adjustment to the audience index, the method used to determine whether a programme appeals disproportionately to a particular demographic group, in this case children.
Other measures include asking retailers to stop promotions that involve unhealthy food and asking food producers to cut the amount of sugar in their products by at least 20 per cent by 2020 — but these measures would not be mandatory.
Tackling the growing problem of childhood obesity was a priority area for David Cameron, former prime minister. The government decided in the March Budget to levy a sugar tax on carbonated drinks in 2018.
His successor, Theresa May has made few, if any, public pronouncements on health and the status of the new white paper, while signed off by Mr Cameron, is unclear.
The wait for the document to reach the top of her in-tray could push back publication from next week to beyond the end of the parliamentary session.
The government also proposes to follow the US in legislating against the use of harmful trans fats — such as hydrogenated vegetable oils — in England from the end of 2017.
Manufacturers have already been cutting their use of trans fats, which are now estimated to account for less than 1 per cent of daily food energy.
Action on Sugar, the lobby group headed by Graham MacGregor, professor of cardiovascular medicine at Queen Mary University, criticised the proposed initiatives as “pathetic” for failing to set mandatory sugar reduction targets. Voluntary measures tended to be eroded by the food industry, it said.
Prof McGregor called on Theresa May in her new capacity as prime minister to review the strategy and make it more “robust”. He said: “It is a huge opportunity following Brexit for the British food industry, which has led the world in reducing salt, to lead also the world in preventing obesity and type 2 diabetes.”
Tim Rycroft, corporate affairs director at the Food and Drink Federation, the industry group, said: “I would be heartened if there were a commitment to work in partnership with the industry. The idea of an industry-wide sugar reduction target doesn’t make sense because different food categories have to proceed at a different pace.”
The Food and Drink Federation called on the government last week to put on hold the sugar tax on carbonated drinks, scheduled for 2018, because of the Brexit vote. “At a time when business and consumer confidence is fragile, the government has to be careful not to impose additional burdens on business,” said Mr Rycroft.
There are currently 1.6m obese children, equivalent to one in five of those aged 12.
