There’s a feeling of déjà vu in the UK’s war on obesity.
With no fewer than 145 voluntary targets looming across different sectors, there are reminders of the Responsibility Deal and its collapse amid too many unrealistic targets.
Both NGOs and industry agree the DH is showing a lack of leadership and leaving an under-resourced PHE to carry the can with what look increasingly like forlorn targets.
Report says too much time online makes kids want junk food
Perhaps the figures PHE and the government should be most worried about are those from an investigation by the BBC, showing the number of UK fast food outlets has increased by a third in eight years.
Takeaway shops are dominating high streets across Britain, running at a rate of 61 per 100,000 of population. Sadly many of these businesses have no idea what PHE is, let alone any plans to respond to reformulation targets.
Perhaps, as the BRC and a growing number of manufacturers have argued, the time to consider regulation is near - but will government be prepared to invest in the resources needed to enforce it?
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