Politicians are “poisoning our children” with ultra-processed school dinners, one of the country’s leading diet gurus has warned.
Professor Tim Spector, founder of popular nutrition app ZOE, said the meals, which “are under Government control”, are “terrible”.
Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, the King’s College London academic urged ministers to remove all ultra-processed foods (UPF) from the school menu.
Foods loaded with additives have long been vilified for their supposed risks, and there are studies linking them to cancer and heart disease.
Experts have even called for all UPFs (typically anything edible that has more artificial than natural ingredients) to be eliminated from diets entirely.
Professor Tim Spector, founder of popular nutrition app ZOE, said the meals, which “are under Government control”, are “terrible”.
Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, the King’s College London academic urged ministers to remove all ultra-processed foods (UPF) from the school menu.
The Nova system, developed by scientists in Brazil more than a decade ago, divides foods into four groups based on the amount of processing they have gone through. Unprocessed foods include fruits, vegetables, nuts, eggs, and meat. Processed culinary ingredients, which are not typically eaten alone, include oils, butter, sugar, and salt.
UPFs refer to items that contain ingredients that people would not normally add when cooking homemade food.
These additions can include chemicals, dyes, sweeteners and preservatives that extend shelf life.
Prepared meals, ice cream, and tomato ketchup are some of the most beloved examples of products that fall under the umbrella term UPF, now synonymous with foods that offer little nutritional value because they are typically higher in sugar, salt, and fat.
They are different from processed foods, which are modified to make them last longer or improve their flavor, such as cured meat, cheese, and fresh bread.
Professor Spector told attendees at the literary festival that we must get “politicians to stop poisoning our children.”
And he added: “School food is terrible, which is why there should be almost zero ultra-processed foods.”
“The food in hospitals is terrible, all these things are under government control.”
The UK is the worst country in Europe for UPF consumption, which makes up around 57 per cent of the national diet.
There is evidence to suggest that UPFs can cause people to overeat, consume more calories, and gain more weight.
Some experts have also claimed that they overload people’s appetite and disrupt signals from the gut to the brain that tell us when we are full, although others dispute this.
Professor Spector added: “57 per cent of all the food we have is ultra-processed, but in France and Spain it ranges between 10 and 12 per cent.”
“Food companies make £30bn a year from us and this is costing the country more than £90bn in health bills we pay as taxpayers.”
He also warned that British drivers have developed the habit of stopping at service stations every two hours during a long journey and buying unhealthy snacks for the journey.
‘If you go to Italy or Spain their gas stations aren’t full of this shit, right? The idea that you have to refuel every two hours is a new phenomenon.’
Food experts say some UPF can be “part of a healthy diet.” Baked beans, fish fingers and whole wheat bread are sufficient, according to the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF). Tomato-based pasta sauces, whole grain breakfast cereals and fruit yoghurts are also “healthier processed foods”, the charity claims.
It comes as a group of leading chefs and authors warned last year that UPF was “hijacking children’s taste buds” and robbing them of the “joy of real food”.
The group, which includes Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Yotam Ottolenghi, Dr Chris van Tulleken and Kimberley Wilson, said the items are “blindfolding” children in terms of taste and texture.
In a letter written to then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the coalition said many would grow up “only knowing the sweet, simplified flavours” of UPF, risking long-term health problems.
In partnership with the Soil Association charity, which fights for sustainable food, farming and land use, the signatories of the letter also urged Mr Sunak to ensure that a million more children in education receive five portions of fruits and vegetables a day.
Studies have long suggested that those who consume a lot of UPF have a higher risk of heart attacks and having dangerously high blood pressure.
But other experts have argued that calls to completely avoid ultra-processed foods “risk demonizing foods that are nutritionally beneficial.”
For example, flavored yogurts, baked beans, and even baby formula are technically ultra-processed foods, as are prepared foods, even if they contain fresh vegetables.