Eating cake in office as dangerous as smoking? UK food regulator calls for ban on cakes in offices

The head of the Food Standards Agency of UK, Professor Susan Jebb, has suggested that people should not bring cake into the office for the sake of their colleagues’ health. She has also expressed her concern that the advertising of junk food is “undermining people’s free will”. Professor Jebb believes while it is a choice to eat sweet treats, people can help each other by providing a “supportive environment.” She gives the example of how if nobody brought cakes into the office, she would not eat cakes during the day, but because people do bring cakes in, she eats them.

Professor Jebb believes that this is similar to the situation with passive smoking, where one will have to inhale smoke if somebody is smoking next to them. She believes that people still don't feel the same way about food. She says people will be tempted into eating cakes if a person sitting next to them will continue bringing them into the office.

She also insists that restrictions on advertising junk food are “not about the nanny state” but would instead tackle what she described as a “complete market failure” where sweet goods take precedence over vegetables. She states that businesses with the most money have the biggest influence on people's behaviour, which is not fair.

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Watch:Obesity a bigger killer than smoking: Study

Successive governments in UK have failed to introduce a long-promised ban on pre-watershed TV advertising for junk food, with Rishi Sunak’s new administration announcing in December that the anti-obesity measure will not come into force until 2025. The Department of Health blamed the high cost of living for the delay in rolling out restrictions on blatant TV ads promoting junk food.

The development comes after it was revealed that a majority of adults in England are overweight. The NHS website says that people fall prey to obesity and tooth decay due to regular consumption of packed food and drinks high in sugar.

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