9 in 10 supermarket bosses want to halt junk food reforms

Supermarket chiefs want the government to push back its ban on junk food promotions yet again.

According to a poll by nutrition company Spoon Guru, which questioned 100 decision makers from the top 11 grocers, 87 per cent want a delay of six months or more.

Two-thirds (61 per cent) favoured a delay of seven months or more.

Legislation outlawing multibuy and “buy one get one free” offers on unhealthy foods has already been forced back six months to October 2022.

READ MORE: Local shops exempt from ban on junk food adverts

Critics said the government had faced resistance from a “huge industry lobbying attempt”.

A quarter of respondents to the survey felt uninformed about the rules, while under half (46 per cent) thought government intervention was needed.

However, half of the executives felt they had a role to play in tackling junk food.

“We understand why the government has delayed the enforcement of this legislation,” Spoon Guru health boss Johanna Bolinder said.

She claimed the rules were “very complex”, carrying “several bureaucratic hallmarks… which many people are struggling to understand”.

Campaigners have already been dismayed at the delays to the reforms.

In July, Children’s Food Campaign co-ordinator Barbara Crowther warned that “time is running out” for the government’s ambition of halving childhood obesity by 2030.

Click here to sign up to Grocery Gazette’s free daily email newsletter

FMCGSupermarkets

RELATED POSTS

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Fill out this field
Fill out this field
Please enter a valid email address.

Menu

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

Sign up to our daily newsletter to get all the latest grocery news and insights direct to your inbox.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.