- Two thirds of British adults are now either overweight or obese
- Health Secretary said eating out is not ‘a treat’ as people do it so often
- He said restaurants, pubs and cafés should cut fat and sugar in meals
- 100 food companies were told doing nothing ‘was not an option’
Kate Pickles For Mailonline
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Restaurants, pubs and cafés are being told to make food portions smaller and reduce fat and sugar content as part of the Government’s bid to tackle obesity.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told food companies that as eating out ‘is no longer a treat,’ they needed to be part of reforms to reduce the nation’s waistline, according to reports.
Two thirds of British adults are overweight or obese – one of the worst rates in Europe.
Mr Hunt wants to encourage chain restaurants, takeaways and fast food retailers, to cut sugar and reduce the size of desserts, cakes and pastries.
The Government wants to cut the amount of sugar in cakes, desserts and pastries that are being sold in cafés, restaurants and pubs
Consumers will be able to check the companies’ efforts on a website, although exactly how they will be compared has not been decided, The Times reports.
It comes alongside food producers being asked to cut sugar in key products by 20 per cent over the next five years.
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In a private meeting Mr Hunt told 100 food companies that ‘doing nothing was not an option’, according to The Times.
He said: ‘Going out to eat is no longer a treat. It’s a regular habit for many families and is contributing significantly to the extra calories and sugar that we all consume on a daily basis.
‘We can’t ignore the changing habits of consumers.
Two thirds of British adults are overweight or obese – one of the worst rates in Europe
‘This means we expect the whole of the out-of-home sector – coffee shops, pubs and family restaurants, quick service restaurants, takeaways, cafes, contract caterers and mass catering suppliers – to step up and deliver on sugar reduction.’
The Health Secretary told the meeting that people are consuming more than a fifth of their sugar intake outside the home and a quarter of families took children to fast food outlets each week.
Chief executive of Public Health England Duncan Selbie told the meeting that the new measures were needed to improve nutrition across the board.
‘We need a level playing field – if the food and drink bought in cafes, coffee shops and restaurants does not also get reformulated and portions rethought then it will remain often significantly higher in sugar and bigger in portion than those being sold in supermarkets and convenience shops.
‘This will not help the overall industry to help us all make healthier choices.’
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