Wales is to put a stop to unhealthy meal deals and temporary price reductions on high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) products in a bid to tackle rising levels of obesity.
The Welsh government will also match the UK’s plans to limit multibuy promotions as 62% of adults in the country are overweight or obese, The Guardian reported.
Promotional volume restrictions on HFSS products include deals such as ‘three for £10’ and ‘buy one get one free’.
However, the policy, which was due to roll out in England on 1 October 2023, has recently been pushed back until October 2025.
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The clampdown comes as Public Health Wales has found that three quarters of meal deals surpass the recommended level of calories and salt for lunch.
The research revealed that if someone purchased an average meal deal for lunch five days a week, they would gain over 6lbs in a year and someone buying a high-calorie meal deal could gain 47lbs over the same period.
Welsh deputy minister for mental health and wellbeing, Lynne Neagle, told The Guardian: “We’re not banning meal deals but we want to shift the focus of meal deals towards healthier, more nutritionally balanced food. Lots of them come with large bags of crisps and the snacks are often high in fat and sugar.
“We want to make sure we can still have meal deals available at an affordable price but which are not so high in calories, fat and sugar.”
This comes as Tesco and Sainsbury’s plan to push ahead with not selling HFSS products through multibuy deals, despite the UK government’s delay in introducing a ban.
