Give children junk food in schools + TV ads

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Children’s Food Bill campaign update – May 2006

Children's Food Bill campaign has been campaigning to greatly reduce the amount of junk food being given to our children and to have more Jamie Oliver meals. They are also campaigning for on junk food adverts before 9pm so our children are protected from constantly being bombarded with ads for them.

Read message on their campaign update below. YOu can actively help following steps below. WE can make a difference.===

1. Email Ofcom before 30 June to ask them to protect children form junk food
adverts before the 9pm watershed. The email address is
foodadvertising@ofcom.org.uk. Please make the title of your email:
‘Consultation response: Television Advertising of Food and Drink Products to
Children’.

2. Ask your friends to sign our petition calling for children to be protected
from junk food advertising before 9pm at https://www.childrensfoodbill.org.uk .

3. Tell us what is happening with school food in your area. Email us at
childrensfoodbill@sustain.org.uk to let us know any good news or any
school food horror stories.

4. Donate to the Children’s Food Bill campaign
https://www.sustainweb.org/child_action_donate.asp. We rely on small donations and
every penny you
can spare will make a difference.
=======
Improving school food – Government finally acts!

The Children’s Food Bill campaign has welcomed the Government’s plans to improve
food in schools. More details can be found here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4995268.stm

The new rules will:
• ban low-quality meat products, fizzy drinks, crisps and chocolate from school
meals,
• ensure a minimum of two portions of fruit and veg with each meal,
• restrict deep-fried items to only two a week,
• ban confectionary, fizzy drinks, crisps and chocolate from school vending
machines, and
• set tough nutritional standards for school meals to be introduced from 2008 in
primary schools and 2009 in secondary schools.

This announcement is a victory for all those who have been campaigning for
better school food. If schools and local council stick to the new rules
they will substantially improve the quality of school food

The Children’s Food Bill campaign will be keeping up the pressure to ensure
local Councils and schools actually meet the new standards. Email us
at childrensfoodbill@sustainweb.org to let us know any good news or horror
stories about school food in your area. We will publish the best and
the worst things we hear over the next few months.


The next battle is to protect children from junk food advertising

We updated you last month about our campaign to force communication regulators
Ofcom to protect children properly from junk food television
adverts.

You may remember that, under pressure from industry, Ofcom have ruled-out
restricting junk food adverts before the 9pm watershed, and
published a series of options to control junk food adverts that are extremely
weak and will be ineffective.

Over the last few weeks there have been a number of important developments:

1) Ofcom have extended the deadline for people to give their views on
restricting junk food adverts. You can now have your say by emailing
Ofcom before 30 June to ask them to end junk food adverts before the 9pm
watershed at: foodadvertising@ofcom.org.uk Ofcom have to listen
to your views so sending one email will make a big difference.

2) The National Heart Forum (a member of the Children’s Food Bill coalition)
has announced it is taking legal action to force Ofcom to include the
option of restriction junk food TV adverts before 9pm in their consultation.
the full story can be found at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5006218.stm.

3) Ofcom have revealed more about their close links to industry. They have now
admitted that they have met with TV and food industry groups
117 times, compared to just 18 meetings with health and consumer groups, which
they decided on their plans. Revealingly Ofcom also said in
response to the NHF legal action (above): "It is also important to note that, as
the communications regulator - and unlike other parties to this
debate - we have legal and statutory duties to both the viewing public and to
the industry we regulate. We are consulting on these questions as
the broadcasting regulator - not as the food industry regulator or government."

We don’t have the millions of pounds to lobby Ofcom that the food and TV
industry does and so we need your help to make the case for properly
protecting children from junk food adverts.. Please do what you can.

For example, as well as emailing Ofcom, do ask family and friends to sign our
petition calling for children to be protected from junk food
advertising before 9pm. Sign the petition online at
:https://www.childrensfoodbill.org.uk/.


Here are five ways you can help the campaign:

1. Email Ofcom before 30 June to ask them to protect children form junk food
adverts before the 9pm watershed. The email address is
foodadvertising@ofcom.org.uk. Please make the title of your email:
‘Consultation response: Television Advertising of Food and Drink Products to
Children’.

2. Ask your friends to sign our petition calling for children to be protected
from junk food advertising before 9pm at https://www.childrensfoodbill.org.uk .

3. Tell us what is happening with school food in your area. Email us at
childrensfoodbill@sustain.org.uk to let us know any good news or any
school food horror stories.

4. Donate to the Children’s Food Bill campaign
https://www.sustainweb.org/child_action_donate.asp. We rely on small donations and
every penny you
can spare will make a difference.

pink_phantom

I study diet and I am 100% convinced that the reason crime is on the increase and many of the behavioural problems that children and adults have are directly linked to what is being eaten.

The additives and rubbish in many foods of today astound me. I think laws that govern food companies and suppliers cannot come to soon. I also think that ALL fizzy drinks should be banned completely for children or at least come with warnings like cigarettes do.

Jo_R_2

I totally agree. Diet for me is such a fundamental part of how I feel, each and every day. I can track my moods and feelings hugely through what I have eaten or drank, and can notice similar in my two-year-old DD.

It scares me that she will grow older (inevitable!) and she will have free rein on what she eats/drinks. The most I can hope for is that she learns by example and eats and drinks healthily most of the time, and as she grows older, is aware of how basic a link it is between diet and health.

pink_phantom

I hope that todays generation will learn as we become more educated about diet within society and the government realises that it is an important issue. Sadly, it is todays teens and young adults who will bear the brunt of our ignorance as it is only recently (1990+) that diet for children has become an issue.

lvhomeless

It all goes back to parenting. If parents were more involved, and knew what their kids are doing (or eating in this case) it would never have gotten so bad.

pink_phantom

Convenience also comes down to it because many parents are busy trying to earn money to keep their family solvent and so perhapse cannot dedicate as much time to their family as in years gone buy.

moonrakerz

pink_phantom wrote:

The additives and rubbish in many foods of today astound me. I think laws that govern food companies and suppliers cannot come to soon. I also think that ALL fizzy drinks should be banned completely for children or at least come with warnings like cigarettes do.

Whilst agreeing to some extent with pink_phantom I must disagree with the final comments.

Why must we have LAWS to control everything ? Is no one capable of thinking for themselves any more ? If you don't like a product don't buy it ! If enough people don't buy it, the manufacturer will either go bust or make something else.
Ban all fizzy drinks for children ? come one - get real ! That works really well for booze and cigarettes doesn't it ? There are plenty of fizzy drinks around that are no more harmful that milk/tea/coffee. We always have a bottle of Lidl's fizzy water in the fridge - ban that ? If you want to ban something how about stuff that puports to be healthy - Sunny D ? I read the label on that - never bought it once !

My middle daughter had all sorts of food allergies as a baby/youngster. We overcame it with good medical advice and common sense - not by calling for a ban on food that disagreed with her. She is now 22, there isn't a vegetable she won't eat - spinach, of all things, is her favourite. She still has the occasional McDonalds, and there is usually a bottle of bright blue WKD in the fridge as well. We never banned her from anything - as soon as you do that it becomes even more attractive.
Sensible education is needed - not more stupid laws which are just flouted anyway. We need more Jamie Olivers, not the useless politicians who jumped on his bandwagon.

pink_phantom

The fizzy bit is the problem, even in carbonated water as it discourages the bones from absorbing calcuim and can cause disorders of the bones in old age and a whole host of gastro intestianl problems such as ulcers. There aren't any fizzy drinks that I would call healthy simply because they have been carbonated. If water was meant to be fizzy, it would be. Also, carbonated water is acidic because of the fizz and is bad for teeth. Please look at the following site where a leading panel of experts discuss the effects of carbonated water and soft drinks: http://www.newstarget.com/004416.html

Many people do not think for themsleves either because it is easier not to or because they trust that when a product claims to be healthy that it actually is. Sunny D is a good example of this as it claims to be healthy when it has more chemicals that a chemistry lab. People believe what they read and hear which is why more stringent laws chould be bought in, especially on advertising.

Blue is an especially bad colour along with tartrazine. It is a synthetic dye derived from coal tar. It can be combined with tartrazine (E102) to produce various shades of green. It has previously been banned in: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland and has been associated with many disorders including hyperactivity. And this is just one colour, there are also preservatives, addatives, flavour enhancers, artificaial sweeteners to name but a few of the crap that they put in many of todays foods and drinks.

These colours are used to attract children even though they provide no nutritional content. Children have no knowledge that they are being decieved in this way and being children they probably wouldn't care but the government has a duty to stop this and parents need to be educated. They know that "colours" are bad but they don't know why. Perhapse if the effects were labelled more clearly then it wouldn't happen.

Another good site that discusses the link between diet and behaviour is here: http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2006/05/02/feeding-crime/
It erally is very interesting. In it, I took the following quote:

"A report published at the end of last year by the pressure group Sustain explained what appear to be clear links between deteriorating diets and the growth of depression, behavioural problems, Alzheimer’s and other forms of mental illness."

I still stand by what I said because from my knowledge, fizzy drinks can have as bad an effect on children as alcohol or cigarettes if abused.

What really grates me is that colourings have no real use other than asthetics. They don't flavour foods so why the need to use them if not to attract people and increase sales. It is all about money.

billieboy_2

Jo_R wrote:

I totally agree. Diet for me is such a fundamental part of how I feel, each and every day. I can track my moods and feelings hugely through what I have eaten or drank, and can notice similar in my two-year-old DD.

It scares me that she will grow older (inevitable!) and she will have free rein on what she eats/drinks. The most I can hope for is that she learns by example and eats and drinks healthily most of the time, and as she grows older, is aware of how basic a link it is between diet and health.

I brought my two girls up on a healthy diet and, even though they had the occasional McDonalds at birthday parties etc, they ate healthily at home and still do and are grateful to us for feeding them the way we did. (They are gobsmacked when they see programmes like "Honey we're killing the kids"!) I think if you start them off on the right track you are giving them a good grounding and doing the best you can for them. I'm sure she will learn by your good example. So don't worry!;) Sorry this is going away from the original posting.

Thriftylady

pink_phantom wrote:

Convenience also comes down to it because many parents are busy trying to earn money to keep their family solvent and so perhapse cannot dedicate as much time to their family as in years gone buy.

I think 'convenience' is a bit of handy excuse for a lot of people.....a healthy meal can be on the table in the same length of time that it takes to heat a ready meal in the oven. Healthy and home made don't have to mean time consuming.

And whilst I totally appreciate that two working parents is a necessity for many families (I'm pregnant at the moment, and realistically I am likely to have to return to salaried work, so I do understand) I don't accept the argument 'but I'm out earning the money to keep a roof over our heads, I'm too tired/don't have time to cook' or whatever. Plenty of people do manage it, its not that hard, its just a matter of being organised. And to be honest, I have serious doubts about anyone who sees providing a healthy diet for their family as being 'too much trouble to go to'.......

moonrakerz

Dear oh dear oh dear !

pink_phantom what an old nanny you are ! You must lead an awfully boring life. You must be frightened to do anything. Were you involved in writing "E for Additives" ? Haven't heard Tartrazine mentioned since I don't know when ! I DID know if you mix blue with yellow you get green.

6000 people are killed on the roads - lets ban cars
Hundreds are killed falling down stairs - lets make everyone live in bungalows

I had a look at the first link you posted: I have to say this is what I would consider to be full of "fringe books", rather than main stream medical opinion - that is not to say that it is ALL wrong. What did catch my eye was the very first line:- "The allergenicity of penicillin in the general population is thought to be at least ten percent." that means about 6 MILLION people in the UK alone are allergic to this drug - using your logic, should this highly dangerous man-made product not be banned ? Also, as you state, E102 has been widely banned - my daughter was badly affected by this. Oranges and Aspirin are closely related to this chemical - should aspirin be banned ?

You state "Children have no knowledge that they are being decieved in this way" - agree, but YOU are opting out of your responsibilities by not educating your children to this fact. Expecting the Government to ban some thing because it MIGHT be dangerous to certain people if eaten/drunk to excess is just a cop out. Regrettably, the reason kids eat junk at school is because they are fed junk at home - that is no reason to ban something !

You say that fizzy drinks can have as bad an effect as cigarettes or alcohol if abused (my underlining) - this is a totally ludicrous statement - it might rot their teeth, it might make them f**t a lot - it WONT give them lung cancer, emphaseima, destroy their livers etc, etc.

I actually do agree with most of what you say about the effect of bad diet but not with your proposed solutions. Do something to help yourself - don't stand there saying "someone should do something about it"

The post from billieboy is a much more reasoned and sensible approach to this problem. That's what we tried to do with our kids and I believe we suceeded.