Chicken Nuggets not Raisins
There is a lot that is wrong with this report from the Sunday Mirror. In terms of veganism it talks about honey and cheese in terms of being good things. But what it does highlight is that children can have chicken nuggets advertised and marketed to them whilst raisins are not allowed. This is not a way to make a healthy nation.
A LEADING nutritionist has blasted “flawed and confusing” food guidelines that allow chicken nuggets and chips to be advertised on children’s TV while raisins are banned as unhealthy.
Author and TV presenter Gillian McKeith says the rules are so absurd that ordinary parents have no hope of understanding them.
Watchdogs introduced the code last month in a bid to tackle child obesity, but the system used to rate foods means cheese, honey, raisins, marmite and some yoghurt have all been labelled as junk food, while chicken nuggets and oven chips passed the test.
But Ms McKeith, presenter of Channel 4’s
You Are What You Eat, said: “If people think a raisin is a junk food then that is absurd. This system of food profiling is flawed and confusing - I don’t think the average person will understand it.
“It simply doesn’t give a true picture of what’s healthy and what’s not. I advise people to use their common sense - most things are okay in moderation.”
Ms McKeith is strongly opposed to heavily-processed foods such as ready meals. “The further you go away from foods’ natural state, the more sugar and salt has been added,” she says.
And she has backed a campaign by The Grocer magazine and food manufacturers calling for an end to the Food Standards Agency’s new policy of judging foods.
They are critical of the way food is rated on its salt, sugar and fat content per 100g or 100ml portion, saying many foods would just not be eaten in this quantity.
This “Nutrient Profiling Model” deems bran flakes to have too much salt - even though it would take three bowlfuls to make up a 100g serving. Similarly, 100g of Marmite fails the test, despite the average serving being only 5g. It also means cheese is deemed too high in salt and fat, while microwave meals such as curry and rice, which typically come in a 450g serving, and chicken nuggets and oven chips are fine.
Kellogg’s spokesman Chris Wermann said: “Children’s TV adverts for Rice Krispies have been banned. One in six children goes to school without breakfast and to ban a product that encourages them to eat breakfast can’t be sensible.”
A spokesman for the Food Standards Authority said: “The FSA and Ofcom are working closely together to help parents protect their children from advertising that is clearly not intended to encourage healthy eating habits. “We stand by the Nutrient Profiling Model, which has undergone scientific scrutiny and been openly consulted on.”
