UK government’s National Food Strategy cannot be half-baked

Obesity is a public health emergency with England having one the highest rates among high-income nations.

There are stark inequalities in this country across the ages, geographic areas, genders, ethnic groups and for those with both mental and physical disabilities.

And these inequalities are growing, as rates of children with obesity are increasing significantly faster in communities with high deprivation levels compared to those with low deprivation levels.

And yet when the UK government has the chance to make a difference it is missing the mark.

They recently responded to the House of Lords Committee report entitled Recipe for Health, which set out realistic and transformative recommendations to improve the nation’s diet.

But we were disappointed to see their tepid response with the UK government listing their existing commitments rather than giving a clear signal that they would adopt any of the report’s recommendations.

This raises serious concerns about whether their upcoming National Food Strategy will turn out half-baked.

At World Cancer Research Fund, we want to see bold government policies in cancer prevention and nutrition.

This includes mandatory targets to improve nutritional quality of food, an expansion of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy to unhealthy foods as well as a strengthening of its sugar threshold, and the introduction of a mandatory front-of-pack labelling scheme.

The government must also ensure that the upcoming marketing restrictions on unhealthy foods are enforced without delay.

There is no doubt that the government wants to put prevention policies at the heart of what they do – they set it out clearly in their manifesto.

But with around 40% of cancer cases being preventable, they need to go further and faster on improving the nation’s diet – they need to take up the recommendations in the Recipe for Health report.