MPs call for ban on supermarket cook-at-home meal deals

A cross-party panel of MPs have said that cook-at-home products included in supermarket meal deals, such as ready meals, should be banned.

The environment, food and rural affairs committee has said this will help to tackle rising levels of obesity, which a report by MPs found is currently at 30% of the population and expected to rise to 40% by 2035, The Telegraph reported.

This would add to the governments crackdown on junk food last October, having banned high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) products from entrances, gondola ends and checkouts at any food stores with more than 50 employees.

The proposed ban of cook-at-home meal deals would affect an array of supermarkets, with many offering promotions such as a ready meal, side and dessert at a discounted price.

Tesco offers its Finest own-brand ‘Dinner for two’, alongside M&S’ ‘Dine-in’ range and Waitrose ready meal offer.

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However, the government has already delayed restrictions to HFSS volume promotions such as multibuys and ‘buy one get one free’ until 2025, despite a rollout originally planned for last October.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak said in June that the delay came as “at a time when household budgets are under continuing pressure from the global rise in food prices, it is not fair for government to restrict the options available to consumers on their weekly shop.”

Despite this, MPs said in a report released on Friday that they were “not convinced that the delay to banning certain volume price promotions for HFSS food will save consumers money.

“The regulations restricting discounts on HFSS food should be broadened to exclude all price promotions of HFSS food, to ban meal deals where any element of a meal deal has to be cooked prior to eating, and to extend the regulations’ coverage to all food shops.”