Labor wants to employ Tony the Tiger to encourage Britons to eat more fruit and vegetables as the country struggles with the obesity epidemic.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said more must be done to combat the “highly manipulative” marketing tactics used to send junk food to Britons, especially children.
He joked: ‘We should second Tony the Tiger to Frosties and continue with buy-one-get-free deals on fruit and vegetables.’
Mr Streeting promised a Labor government would ‘steamroll’ the food industry and ban online and TV advertising of junk food to children.
He added that Labor might go further, adding that there was a “serious case to be made” for tighter restrictions on food packaging.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting (left) said more must be done to combat the ‘highly manipulative’ marketing tactics used to flog junk food to Brits, joking that the nation should ‘second’ Frosties Tony the Tiger (right) ‘ to promote ‘buy one get one’ get one free offer on fruit and vegetables
Mr Streeting said he would build a coalition of food industry leaders to tackle obesity and warned those who want to prioritize profits at the expense of the country’s health.
“Either you board the steamroller, or you go under it,” he said.
“We’re going to work with industry leaders to bring the rest of us along.”
He told The Times Health Summit: ‘Why not take the principle that has been used to sell junk food and instead apply it to healthy options for children and young people?’
At the same meeting, Health Minister Victoria Atkins warned against pointing fingers at the public about their health.
Obesity and overweight have been a growing problem in Britain for years.
The latest data for England shows that almost two-thirds of adults are overweight, compared to just half in the mid-1990s.
Nearly one in ten children is overweight by the time they enter primary school.
Being overweight is linked to a range of health problems, including diabetes, high blood pressure, serious cardiovascular problems such as heart disease and stroke, and also increases the risk of several types of cancer.
Official estimates put the annual death toll from obesity in Britain at more than 30,000. It also costs society and the wider society billions every year.
One of the most cited reasons for the country’s growing waistline is the consumption of junk food and convenience foods.
These meals are typically packed with fat, salt and sugar that, while both convenient and tantalizing to the taste buds, have long-term health consequences if eaten too often.
Bans and restrictions on junk food advertising, such as those proposed by Mr Streeting, have been considered before.
In 2015, then shadow health secretary, and now Mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham proposed limits on the amount of fat, sugar and salt in food marketed to children.
The Conservatives have their own plan to curb junk food advertising.
The measure, unveiled by ex-prime minister Boris Johnson, would have led to a complete ban on online junk food ads and a turning point for junk food ads on TV at 9pm from 2023.
But the policy was pushed back to 2025 by current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Mr Sunak said he wanted to give the industry more time to prepare for the change as the reason for the delay.
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