Politicians are ‘poisoning our children’ with ultra-processed school meals, one of the country’s top diet gurus has warned.
Professor Tim Spector, founder of popular nutrition app ZOE, called the meals, which are ‘under government control’, ‘terrible’.
Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, the King’s College London academic urged ministers to instead remove all ultra-processed foods (UPFs) from school menus.
Foods rich in additives have long been vilified for their supposed risks, with studies linking them to cancer and heart disease.
Experts have even called for all UPFs – typically anything edible that contains more artificial ingredients than natural ones – to be completely removed from the diet.
Professor Tim Spector, founder of popular nutrition app ZOE, said the meals, which are ‘under government control’, are ‘terrible’
Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, the King’s College London academic urged ministers to instead remove all ultra-processed foods (UPFs) from school menus.
The Nova system, developed by scientists in Brazil more than a decade ago, divides food into four groups based on the amount of processing it has undergone. Unprocessed foods include fruits, vegetables, nuts, eggs and meat. Processed culinary ingredients – which are not usually eaten alone – include oils, butter, sugar and salt
UPFs refer to items that contain ingredients that people would not normally add when preparing homemade food.
These additives can include chemicals, colorings, sweeteners and preservatives that extend shelf life.
Ready meals, ice cream and tomato ketchup are some of the most beloved examples of products that fall under the umbrella term UPF, now synonymous with foods that have little nutritional value because they generally have higher sugar, salt and fat content .
They differ from processed foods, which are tinkered with to make them last longer or improve their taste, such as cured meats, cheese and fresh bread.
Professor Spector told the audience at the literary festival that we need to ‘get politicians to stop poisoning our children’.
He added: “School food is terrible, there should be a mandate to have almost no ultra-processed food.
“Hospital food is horrible. All these things are under government control.”
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Britain is the worst country in Europe for eating UPFs, which make up an estimated 57 percent of the national diet.
There is some evidence that UPFs can cause people to overeat, consume more calories and gain more weight.
Some experts also claim that they increase people’s appetite and disrupt the signals from the gut to the brain that tell us when we are full, although others dispute this.
Professor Spector added: ’57 percent of all the food we have is ultra-processed, but in France and Spain this is around 10 to 12 percent.
‘The food companies earn £30 billion a year from us and it costs the country over £90 billion in healthcare bills that we as taxpayers pay.’
He also warned that British drivers have developed the habit of stopping at petrol stations every two hours during a long journey and picking up unhealthy snacks for the journey.
“If you go to Italy or Spain, their gas stations aren’t full of these c—, right? The idea that you have to refuel every two hours is a new phenomenon.’
Food experts say some UPFs can be “part of a healthy diet.” Baked beans, fish fingers and wholemeal bread all do the trick, according to the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF). Tomato-based pasta sauces, wholegrain cereals and fruit yoghurts are also ‘healthier processed foods’, says the charity
It comes as a group of leading chefs and authors warned last year that UPFs are ‘hijacking children’s taste buds’ and robbing them of the ‘joy of real food’.
The group, which includes Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Yotam Ottolenghi, Dr Chris van Tulleken and Kimberley Wilson, said the items ‘blindfold’ children to taste and texture.
In a letter to then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the coalition said many would grow up “knowing only the simplified and sugary flavours” of UPFs, causing long-term health problems.
Working with the charity Soil Association, which campaigns for sustainable food, farming and land use, signatories to the letter also urged Sunak to ensure one million additional children in education get five portions of fruit and vegetables a day to get.
Studies have long suggested that those who consume a lot of UPFs are at greater risk of heart attack dangerously high blood pressure.
But other experts have argued that calls to avoid ultra-processed foods completely “risk demonizing foods that are nutritionally beneficial.”
For example, flavored yogurt, baked beans and even baby food are technically ultra-processed foods, as are convenience foods – even if they contain fresh vegetables.