The Labor Party wants to recruit Tony the Tiger to encourage Britons to eat more fruit and vegetables as the nation battles the obesity epidemic.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said more must be done to combat the “highly manipulative” marketing tactics used to push junk food to Britons, especially children.
He joked: “We should support Tony the Tiger to ditch the Frosties and opt for buy-one-get-one-free deals on fruits and vegetables.”
Streeting promised that a Labor government would “crush” the food industry and ban online and television advertising of junk food aimed at children.
He added that Labor could go further, adding there were “serious reasons to be made” for imposing stricter restrictions on food packaging.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting (left) said more must be done to combat the “highly manipulative” marketing tactics used to sell junk food to Britons, joking that the nation should “get behind” Frosties Tony the Tiger (right) to promote “buy one, get one.” one-free offers for fruits and vegetables
Streeting said he would create a coalition of food industry leaders to tackle obesity and issued a warning to those who want to prioritize profits at the expense of the nation’s health.
“You either get on the steamroller or you go under,” he said.
“We’re going to work with industry leaders to drag the rest of us down with them.”
He told the Times Health Summit: “Why don’t we take the principle that has been used to criticize junk food and apply it to healthy options for children and young people?”
Speaking at the same event, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins warned against public “mentalism” about their health.
Obesity and overweight have been a growing problem in Britain for years.
The latest data from England shows that almost two-thirds of adults are too fat, compared to just half in the mid-1990s.
Nearly one in 10 children is obese by the time they start primary school.
Being too fat is linked to a number of health problems including diabetes, high blood pressure, serious cardiovascular problems such as heart disease and stroke, as well as increasing the risk of several types of cancer.
Official estimates put the annual death toll from obesity in the UK at more than 30,000. It also costs society and society at large billions each year.
One of the most cited reasons to explain the increase in waistlines in the country is the consumption of junk food and prepared foods.
These foods are often packed with fat, salt and sugar, which, while comfortable and tempting to the taste buds, have long-term health consequences if consumed too frequently.
Bans and restrictions on junk food advertising, such as those suggested by Streeting, have been considered before.
In 2015, the then shadow health secretary and now mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, proposed limits on the amount of fat, sugar and salt in foods marketed to children.
The Conservatives have their own plan to restrict junk food advertising.
Unveiled by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the move would have seen a complete ban on online junk food ads and a 9pm milestone for junk food TV ads from 2023.
But current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delayed the policy until 2025.
Mr Sunak He said he wanted to give the industry more time to prepare for the change as the reason for the delay.