fyi...michael

from:
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AD05-089E22BD7AC1}

 > News    Friday 21st May 2004


Children’s Food Bill put before parliament

Junk food advertising aimed at children could be banned under proposals
contained in a new bill that was last week presented to the UK parliament.

Introduced by Debra Shipley MP, the Children’s Food Bill is designed to
regulate the marketing, promotion and sale of food and drink to children.
Developed in partnership with Sustain, the alliance for better food and
farming, the bill has the support of 114 national organisations, including
the British Dental Association, Diabetes UK and the Children’s Society.

Despite the wide support, Ms Shipley said she was ‘realistic’ about the bill
’s prospects, and noted that its chances of reaching the statute books
within the next few years were limited. She said that the bill would
probably only ‘breathe life’ once a parliamentary and public consensus on
the problem of childhood obesity had been reached. In the meantime, she
planned to lobby government departments and MPs to raise the profile of the
issue.

‘We are going to begin a momentum that cannot be stopped,’ Ms Shipley told a
press conference.
Under proposals contained in the bill, the Food Standards Agency would be
required to specify criteria for healthy and unhealthy food and drink,
taking into account nutritional content and other criteria, such as the
presence of additives and contaminants.

Based on these criteria, the marketing of unhealthy foods would be
prohibited and the government would be required to publish an annual plan to
promote healthy foods, such as fruit, to children.
The types of food available to children at school would also be addressed
under the bill.
It includes proposals for school meal standards, better food education, and
a ban on selling unhealthy food in school vending machines.

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats have launched their own strategy, Childhood
obesity: a growing problem. Along with calling for a toughening of the code
governing the advertising of food and drink to children, the LibDems have
called for a ban on junk food advertising on school vending machines, a
review of the nutritional standards for school meals, along with a change in
the secondary school curriculum to include two hours per week of mandatory
physical activity in class time.

Related Links:

Sustain - the alliance for better food and farming

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