Most of us will cave in and enjoy a McDonald’s breakfast or a Domino’s two-for-tuesday every now and then, they’re some of life’s great pleasures.
But it looks like the government wants to kill everything we love in this world, by forcing large takeaways to reduce portion sizes.
This move could be implemented as soon as next year, and is part of a massive attempt to reduce childhood obesity.
More encouragingly, the scheme might also include a move to healthier ingredients, instead of relying on cheaper and more harmful ones.
This will be part of the same strategy that is responsible for an increased tax on sugary drinks, which will begin in April 2018.
This would all be well and good, if prices were expected to drop along with the portion sizes.
Unfortunately, this isn’t expected to happen.
Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, told The Sun:
If we really want to make an indent in obesity rates, we need to target a wider range of foods.
It will be what manufacturers produce, what retailers sell and also what we buy on the go from big takeaway places like McDonald’s and Domino’s.
It’s probably going to be about cutting the number of calories per 100g of product, which you can do through changing the ingredients, but also possibly through changing product sizes.
Things aren’t all rosy with this announcement, as some believe that it doesn’t address the root of the childhood obesity problem.
Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said:
I doubt the prices of food will shrink in line with the size of the product — and consumers will quite rightly get annoyed.
Shrinking products is the easy option but it does nothing to tackle the unhealthy nature of the ingredients. Reformulation is the preferable option.
All jokes aside, it does seem a waste of money to enforce these policies on shrinking portion sizes, without redressing what is actually inside the food.
If the government goes for this easy option, it will be easy for the likes of McDonald’s and Domino’s to take advantage and improve profit margins while blaming the government policy.
Surely it would be better to educate children on nutrition, and enforce requirements for higher quality ingredients?
If portions are smaller, people are probably just going to buy more of it, and it’s not like the food is going to be any healthier…
