What do you think of the Gov's U-turn on junk food?

[Herbarium]

Just heard about this today, so may be late to it (apologies of so).

Many think this will impact health outcomes amongst lower income individuals an exacerbate the levels of obesity in kids across the UK.

The excuse os that it it will 'ease the cost of living' for people to be able to grab junk food cheaply and easily.

I personally don't think this collection of clowns gives a damn or has a clue - or if they do, it'll be to assist their chums in corporate.

I think if people want a sandwich, packet of crisps and a can- they still will! I certainly will!

Just like cigarettes and booze, people don’t cut back, they’ll just pay more.

I don't think it's up to the government to police what people buy, but I do think it's their responsibility to address the underlying reasons why people buy shit food.

I think that there should be a massive tax on all junk food including junk food sold in supermarkets and the proceeds should be used to make healthy food virtually free.

I don't agree especially when the NHS has to pick up the tab for people eating unhealthy food.

Let them eat cake......literally 🙄

I think junk food should be taxed and the money used to make healthier stuff cheaper. I don't know how that would work, but I'm sure something could be figured out.

It sounds a bit too progressive for those lot!

That would do much more to ease the cost of living!

Taxes don't stop people. Just look at smoking and drinking. They are taxed so much because they are a guaranteed revenue stream, not because its a deterrent.

More should be done to make healthy food cheaper. Or look at why people are overweight on the first place (and its not cos kit kits are only a quid).

More should be done to make healthy food cheaper.
Taxing junk food could help with this though.

But the people who want to eat healthily will be able to and the ones that don't can pay the tax. They will be paying for their use of the NHS when they become diabetic and need their limbs amputated.

Less than 2% of all food advertising is for fruit and veg. The vast majority is for processed crap food and targeted at teens. The Govt need to step in because food industry won't stop doing this unless they are forced to.

The new laws had been through parliament. The Govt is literally going to introduce new legislation to cancel law they just passed a few months ago. It's bonkers. And it's children that will suffer.

Sugar, junk food, processed food, tobacco, booze should be taxed to cover their costs to the NHS.

however what’s really needed is education, kids cooking a weekly meal all through primary and secondary so that preparing a range of meals is second nature.

I think govt was wrong to pause this plan. Staples(*) are cheaper foods, anyway, so better to nudge people towards BOGOF on those and veg, instead.

(*) butter, potatoes, rice, bread...

ps: has anyone noticed how big Johnson is? He's gained back what he lost & more

Having worked at a food bank I can tell you that the processed foods were a lot more popular than the fresh veg. Whether that was down to convenience, preference or economy I don't know. The problem with cooking from scratch is that many people are in fuel poverty so cannot afford to cook even if the ingredients are cheap.

Ultimately whatever this government do, they'll be criticised

I think it’s awful and indicative of how little the government gives a crap about the next generation. The snacking obsession in this country is huge!!! The sugars the salts! I think it’s so ingrained in us many of us don’t even see how warped it is.
as for nanny state- it’s needed! Iike the smoking ban, hiding the cigarettes behind counters - we have a different attitude to smoking than when I was growing up- thankfully

I’d rather they were criticised for something with a positive outcome than something with a negative one.

afaik, most processed foods are fine. They don't qualify as HFSS. Most Breads, yogurt, maybe even pot noodles (certainly plain pasta) would be fine to BOGOF still.

Threshold is high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS), so crisps, sweets, cakes, biscuits, pizzas, pastries, sodas...

I'm really torn. Until energy prices come down, cooking a meal from scratch is going to be really hard, harder than it already is for those in fuel poverty. So unless a tax on junk would support people to pay fuel bills then a junk tax is just unfair.

As for fresh food being cheaper, it's only cheaper if you can cook it and if your kids will eat it. If you worry about your kids going hungry and spend you minimal food budget on veg, lentils etc and your kids turn their noses up at it and you throw it away (because there's not enough electricity to keep the fridge on and reheat the meal). Or spend a few extra pence on something like chicken nuggets that you know your kids will eat and take less energy to cook then you'll do that.

I understand the arguments about costs to the NHS etc but I’m very uncomfortable about the government’s increasing overreach into our lives and homes.

I think, once again, that it’s really cheap to buy our politicians. Donate some cash to the party, have a word in the right ear and they’ll bend. The food industry has gotten what it wanted.

McDonald's chicken nuggets aren't HFSS, the BOGOF plan didn't apply to them. Other manufacturers could well adjust their recipes to get outside the HFSS net.
Info on the provisional plan here.

Sugar tax/labelling has led to new recipes, lower sugar in some products. It's not like manufacturers can't reformulate.

I wondered how long it would be before some entity crawled out from under a rock and suggested we should pay for healthcare.

Er, we already do. We fund the fucking system. It isn't our fault the money is squandered and the service is fucked. Oh wait, we're a democracy. We voted for this. Oh well.

The sugar tax worked. Shame on them form backing down, but I didn’t expect anything more from this shower.

He’s really fat. He gets a free pass from the media though, unlike John Prescott back in the day.

I think buy one get one frees should be on healthy foods.