Columnist at the Independent Thomas Sutcliffe has said that government and consumers themselves have to be responsible so that healthy eating is higher up people’s agenda.
Writing in the paper, Sutcliffe argued that the findings of this weeks’ National Consumer Council report – which said more in-store promotions are focusing in fatty goods – are not entirely surprising.
He suggested that voluntary agreements and regulations in this field are not always the best way to ensure that retailers act responsibly and the government has to take this into account.
“The government (and all taxpayers by extension) have a very strong motive for improving the British diet. It will cost them (and us) much less in terms of health care,” he said.
Sutcliffe noted that retailers are not “lifestyle gurus” and can make larger profits by selling allegedly more sugary items.
The British Retail Consortium has said the report is “misleading” because it studied a single city
