Labour calls for laws to limit sugar, salt and fat in food (UK)

[Redfairen]

Source: Evening Standard

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said voluntary agreements with the food industry were not working and action must be taken to stop Britain storing up "huge problems" for the future.

Labour is launching a consultation into a new cap on the maximum permitted levels of fat, sugar and salt in food targeted at youngsters, which could include a 30% cap on sugar in cereals.

Mr Burnham said: "It is clear that the current voluntary approach is not working. We need to open our minds to new approaches in tackling child obesity.

"Labour wants to lead this debate. That is why we are asking the public and experts if new limits for sugar, fats and salts would be the right approach.

Read more: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/labour-calls-for-laws-to-limit-sugar-salt-and-fat-in-food-8439404.html

[Deep13]

1. So if they restrict sugar, salt, and fat, what have they got left?

Mushy peas?

[azurnoir]

2. well there's always this

but it might fall into the too much salt and fat category

[loli phabay]

5. worst haggis ever. even when drunk this stuff is bouffing

[azurnoir]

7. lol I'll take your word for it :) n/t

[dipsydoodle]

9. Coincidently I nearly bought a real one this morning.

I love haggis with neeps and tatties. When my wife Morag who was Scottish was alive we used to buy them in Selfridges but these days the local supermarket sells them.

[azurnoir]

10. see there you made have to Google :)

so mashed potatoes and turnips is it then ? but I'll go with bubble and squeak for the most descriptive name for the likely results of eating a dish albeit it sounds good, they both do but Haggis well I just don't know

[dipsydoodle]

11. That's not what bubble squeak is .

Bubble and squeak is the leftover veggies , potatoes greens sprouts whatever , from Sunday lunch mashed up together and fried for Monday's lunch. Had that every week when I was a kid and food was still on ration which it was here until 1953 when sugar finally came off. Not sure that anyone still does that.

[azurnoir]

13. thsnks my undering of bubble and squeak

was that's a mixture of potatoes cabbage and onions with butter added all mashed up together, which sounds good and dangerous depending on what company one will be keeping after eating

[dipsydoodle]

14. Yes - avoid company.

Avoid Swedish meat balls too which are even worse for that.

[boguspotus]

15. When the wife and I went to London last year:

I had to try some old school British food. We went to a well known eel, pie and mash shop. (They were out of eels which was a bummer - Dammit!)
But I thought the pies and mash were delicious with a good sprinkling of malt vinegar - but the meat pies have to have a big amount of fat. So, they going to force places like that to make their old school food low fat? That would be a bummer, just don't eat it everyday.

[dipsydoodle]

17. I think those pies are mutton

same as haggis.

[boguspotus]

18. I wouldn't have guessed Mutton.

I've had lamb, but never mutton. I was told that mutton was gamey - if this was mutton it really was good, no gamey taste at all. I thought it was beef.
I had some great fish and chips too - along with a side of mushy peas - also excellent.

We didn't really have the money to eat out that much, so we bought food (and beer and wine) from the grocery stores. The deli food, sandwiches, premade salads and all the other food (fresh fruit, veggies, breads) we bought was super high quality. Better than the same food we would get here in the US. I loved the Jerk chicken from the Tesco hot chicken deli section and caramelized onion hummus -can't get that back here. Lots and lots of healthy food choices - and lots of fun not-healthy food choices - the way it should be.

[slackmaster]

4. You beat me to it. I think you can make spotted dick without suet.

[BadgerKid]

8. Alcohol, tree bark, limestone.

[Deep13]

16. well, there is that. nt

[Heather MC]

3. Some Fat in foods is ok, It's the Salt and sugar and GMO's that's the Problem

[alp227]

6. So conservatives, how's that free market working out for kids' health?

According to Milton Friedman etc., Jeremy Hunt should just STFU because the Free Market(TM) will adjust to the nutritional needs of the British children. Did that happen? :crickets: :cricets:

So how do those right wingers reconcile a Free Market with Family Values?

Family values = healthy, virtuous kids who obey their parents.
Free market = In Big Business We Trust, even if said Big Businesses manufacture:
- Cheap toys made in China with all sorts of poisons
- Unhealthy HFCS-/sugar-/fat-loaded food that appeals to kids because of the cartoony commercials
- Mindless video games
- Defective car seats and other kids' products that may end up scarring/maiming/incapacitating a kid for life
- Trash TV i.e. the reality shows on the E! and MTV channels and the "infotainment" on the networks posing as news
- Ability to buy politicians and re-write the rules for the corporations. Trying to sue a company over a shitty product that hurt a kid? Tough luck, due to tort reform!

[Harmony Blue]

12. Europe and the rest of the world

is ahead of the U.S. when it comes to this. Caloric intake isn't as important as we have been led to believe. Rather how much sodium or sugar in our diets is that much more important. It is true that foods or meals with low sodium or sugar tend to to also have lower caloric values to an extent. But overall we need to have a serious discussion about this in the U.S.