According to the Food Standards Agency (FSA), one in four of all under-10s are seriously overweight.
An estimated 3.5 million go to school each day with a lunchbox – 90% of them containing what the FSA claims to be a ‘time bomb’: high in fats, sugar and salt.
Far from running the risk of rearing a generation of anorexics, it seems we’re turning out recruits for fat camp instead.
In terms of pointing the finger, food manufacturers and parents must take equal responsibility. Cadbury’s idea of helping schools re-equip their games lockers effectively requires children to eat 170 chocolate bars for every £10 basketball. Parents haven’t the disposition to substitute carrots for crisps.
Nobody ever said that getting kids to eat their greens was easy. However, with peer pressure the most effective influence, brand owners and packaging suppliers and designers working at the healthier end of the food chain might find that the right label could do for nutrition what it’s done for Nike.