A cross-party committee of MPs has concluded that preventing obesity in future generations must take precedence over the interests of the food and drink industry. In a report to parliament, the health select committee argues that radical action to regulate food markets is needed to address the obesity crisis.
Obesity rates have nearly doubled in 30 years
The proportion of adults in England living with obesity has nearly doubled over the last three decades, reaching 30%. The committee states that this is not a failure of individual willpower but the predictable result of an environment engineered around cheap, heavily promoted unhealthy food.
MPs note that while sweets, chocolate and crisps attracted £196m in advertising over a year, fruit and vegetables got just £19m. The report also highlights that obesity costs the UK at least £74bn per year, including £11bn to the NHS alone.
Proposed measures include banning unhealthy food ads and restricting industry influence
The most ambitious proposal is to exclude food businesses selling a high share of unhealthy products, and their trade bodies, from shaping “food, diet and obesity-prevention” policy. MPs say measures to protect children and public health are repeatedly delayed or diluted by industry warnings about “prices, jobs or the economy”.
MPs are echoing peers on the Lords food, diet and obesity committee, putting the food industry in the same category as tobacco firms, which are excluded from shaping tobacco-control policy. Under Sir Keir Starmer, ministers rejected the proposal, saying such a measure would “prevent effective engagement”. With Andy Burnham expected to become prime minister, MPs are making the case again that industry has too often allowed commercial interests to shape the agenda.
The committee also proposes a ban on all outdoor advertising of foods high in fat, salt and sugar by July 2027. Councils should get clearer powers to block new fast-food outlets. The report notes that KFC has challenged dozens of English councils over takeaway restrictions, overturning local decisions more than half the time.
Supermarkets face binding targets and potential fines
The committee wants supermarkets to be held responsible for what they sell and to recast their business model. Large retailers would report healthy product sales and face binding targets within a year, extended to other big food businesses by the end of this parliament. Failure could trigger turnover-based fines, potentially used to make healthier food cheaper. MPs are telling ministers to stick to their own 10-year plan, which says there will be mandatory reporting on healthy food sales for all large firms.
Inequalities and international comparisons
The committee chair, Layla Moran, is right to demand tough regulation and affordable healthier choices. The inequalities are stark: rates of obesity are more than twice as high in the poorest areas than the richest, and the gap is widening. As Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, notes, this is hardly rocket science: France has kept obesity levels steady since 1990. In the UK, obesity has continued to rise, especially among younger adults, while governments have repeatedly preferred voluntary agreements, delayed regulation and yielded to industry pressure.
