Food: Nutrition
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of including fruit and nut bars under the restrictions for high fat, sugar and salt products on the health of consumers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will take decisive action on the obesity crisis to ease the strain on our National Health Service and create the healthiest generation of children ever.
There are restrictions on high fat, sugar and salt products in relation to advertising and promotions. These restrictions apply to categories of products of most concern for childhood obesity, which were chosen following public consultation. The Nutrient Profiling Model is then applied to products within each category to determine which products are ‘less healthy’ and therefore subject to the restrictions, based on the balance of positive and negative nutrients. This means that, while products that are not high in saturated fat, salt or sugar are unaffected, fruit and nut bars that are high in saturated fat, salt or sugar are in scope of the restrictions.
We have not quantified the impact of specific products within the advertising or promotions restrictions. However, we have published detailed impact assessments on costs and benefits of these policies on GOV.UK.
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