In her latest annual report, the Chief Medical Officer, Professor Dame Sally Davies, has called for taxes to be applied to so called unhealthy ‘junk food’, suggesting the proceeds could be used to reduce the prices of fruit and vegetables. She has also urged the government to ban added sugar in jars of baby food.
The report sets out plans to create a more healthy nation by 2040, with a focus on improving the environment to make it easier for people to be healthier. That involves tackling the preventable causes of 50% of chronic diseases and 40% of cancers – namely, unhealthy diet, smoking, physical inactivity, excessive drinking of alcohol and air pollution.
Some recommendations include:
- Incentives to encourage people to eat more fruit and vegetables
- More ambitious targets for salt reduction in food (to 7g a day)
- Extending the tax on sugary drinks to sweetened milk-based drinks
- A ban on added sugar and salt in jars of baby and infant food
- Taxing foods high in sugar and salt