UK to ban fast food outlets near schools? MPs push for major anti-obesity measures
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "UK to ban fast food outlets near schools? MPs push for major anti-obesity measures")
A UK parliamentary committee has urged the government to ban new fast food outlets near schools Photograph: (Pixabay | representative image)
A UK parliamentary committee has urged the government to ban new fast food outlets near schools and prohibit junk food advertising on billboards and public transport. MPs say stronger action is needed to tackle rising obesity, accusing ministers of failing to curb unhealthy diets
In a major move, the Members of Parliament (MPs) in United Kingdom (UK) has urged ministers to stop giving in to food industry lobbying and take strict action to tackle the obesity in the country. Among other things, a significant point from the recommendation made by the MPs, that has grabbed eyeballs, is to stop fast food chains such as KFC from opening outlets schools, and advertising for junk food on billboards and public transport. Layla Moran, the committee’s chair and a Liberal Democrat MP said that strong action must be taken to curb “the constant bombardment of promotions and adverts we see and hear in our daily lives – on our screens, on children’s journeys home from school, as we set foot in shops and queue for the checkout.”
Criticising the UK government under Keir Starmer, the MPs said it has not followed through on pledges to introduce policies to tackle bad diets. They recommended that ministers must give local councils “greater powers to stop fast food takeaways from opening near schools.” “It has become common sense that if we want to stem the tide of the obesity epidemic in children, we should be removing the temptation of fast food outlets in the vicinity of schools and areas of high levels of childhood obesity. The upcoming reforms to national planning regulations should give local authorities the power to fight the big chains for the sake of our children’s health.,” said Moran.
Other things recommended by the MPs are:
- Impose restrictions on advertising of junk food on social media
- Require supermarkets to place fruits and vegetables in prominent locations such as entrances and checkouts.
- Extend online rules so "special offers" pages also promote healthier food options.
- Force major supermarkets to report sales of healthy versus unhealthy foods.
- Set mandatory healthy sales targets.
- Enforce compliance through the Food Standards Agency, including fines.
- Require retailers to disclose promotions on unhealthy foods compared with fruit and vegetables.
- Introduce mandatory front-of-pack labelling by January 2028
- Make traffic light nutrition labels compulsory on food packaging.
- The age threshold for Healthy Start eligibility should increase."
- Exclude food businesses from policy discussions."
- Keep companies that earn a significant share of revenue from unhealthy foods out of government policymaking on diet and obesity.
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