A Salford farmer is calling for “more to be done” following the announcement that junk food adverts will be banned from October 2025.
The decision made by the Department of Health and Social Care will mean that children will no longer be exposed to TV adverts for junk food products as a new law set out today (December 3) confirms the final details of advertising restrictions.
Advertisements on television will only be allowed past the 9pm watershed from October 2025 as part of plans to curb childhood obesity.
The decision taken will be one of the many steps taken to tackle childhood obesity, however, Janine McMahon, owner of Moss Lane Farm believes that “more needs to be done.”
As she continued: “The ban on junk food adverts sounds great, however we need more transparency on how the ban will work.
“If you go down to the Trafford centre there are junk food ads everywhere. What will a TV ad ban do?”
Janine argues whether the ban would have much of an impact, she said: “If I were to ask my children what BBC 1 or ITV was they would think I was speaking a foreign language.
“We need a blanket ban on all junk food adverts on all platforms, children hardly watch television anymore so the ban will have no impact on them.”
As she continued: “Children have been brought up on junk food adverts and mcDonald’s marketing. It has already been built into their brains.”
Guidance is being published today (December 3) to provide more detail on which food and drink categories will be covered by the regulations – giving the industry the final details needed to prepare for the regulations coming into force next year.
The impacted decision could see an expected 7.2 billion calories per year removed from UK children’s diets as a result of the measures, preventing an estimated 20,000 cases of childhood obesity.
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, said: “Obesity robs our kids of the best possible start in life, sets them up for a lifetime of health problems, and costs the NHS billions.”
NHS data shows a deeply concerning trend of rising childhood obesity, with almost one in 10 (9.2%) reception-aged children are now living with obesity and, by age five, that one in five (23.7%) children have tooth decay because of excess sugar consumption.
NHS National Medical Director Professor, Sir Stephen Powis, said: “NHS figures show that one in eight toddlers and primary school children are obese, and this is clearly a problem not only because we know that it could lead to young people having health issues later in life, but it’s also storing up problems for a future NHS which already spends billions dealing with the issue.”
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