From Mike Bomford, Exeter 382173, July 02, 2008
The largest and most comprehensive survey ever undertaken of children's' meals at popular leisure attractions is unveiled at the Local Government Association Annual Conference in Bournemouth today.
9 Local authorities in the Trading Standards Partnership (South West) (SWERCOTS) including Devon took part in the survey and the results they found reflected the national position.
The national findings show that parents taking their children on school holiday outings may be offered meals which are overwhelmingly in excess of the recommended children's guidelines for fat, saturated fat, salt, sugar and protein.
In Devon the results, although less alarming than meals sampled in other parts of the country, still contained disappointingly high levels of fat, salt and sugar.
Council regulatory services body LACORS, which coordinated the survey, has criticised the fact that none of the meals complied with the School Food Trust recommendations for healthier food that would help tackle Britain's growing child obesity problem.
Trading standards and environmental health officers from councils across the UK took part in the survey, testing 397 different meals available for children from 220 activity centres including theme parks, wildlife parks, museums, leisure centres, heritage sites and outdoor farm parks.
Some of the meals sampled showed excessive levels of fat, salt and sugar. Examples include meals that had -
One in 10 six-year-olds is obese. The total number of obese children has doubled since 1982. On present trends half of all children in England in 2020 could be obese.
The LACORS report calls for:
Councillor Brian Berman Devon County Council's Executive Member for Communities said:
"Poor diets are of serious concern and we all have a responsibility for the health of our nation. Any steps that can be taken to improve our health must be welcome so I would urge all catering establishments to consider providing healthy choices in their menus."
Ken Endacott Operations Manager for Devon County Council's Trading Standards service, and representing SWERCOTS said,
"Although not as unhealthy as some of the meals sampled across the country, the meals sampled in Devon still contained disappointingly high levels of fat, salt and sugar.
"Council trading standards and environmental health officers are here to help business as well as ensure a fair deal for consumers. We would be pleased to provide advice to ensure that greater choice, healthy options and information can be given to parents."
"Devon has already piloted an easy to understand toolkit to help food producers produce healthy options and this is now being developed by SWERCOTS to provide similar help to caterers.
Notes for Editors
For further information please contact Ken Endacott on 01392 382728 or 07817 948806
The overall results from the meals tested showed that on average the meals provided had:
On average, meals for children at theme parks had more total fat, saturated fat, protein and salt than wildlife parks, museums, leisure centres heritage sites and outdoor farm parks.
The report states:
"The meals sold to a seven- to ten-year-old child provide excess fat, saturates, sugar, and salt compared to recommended guidelines. The stark reality is that none of the 397 meals fully complied with all six requirements of the School Food Trust. School food has significantly changed over the last few years and it is time that the hospitality industry introduced similar changes to ensure that the valuable contribution that these guidelines have made is not undermined outside schools.
"There can be no case for the provision of additional salt with children's meals; there is simply no physiological need for it. A habit such as the addition of salt to meals developed at such an early age has the potential to cause problems later in life.
"The food at exciting family venues is aimed at what children prefer to eat and also what the adults responsible for the children are willing and likely to purchase. There are no simple answers for either businesses or customers as to what they can be replaced with. Customer awareness and the offer of alternatives such as healthy options and drinking water and the removal of things like additional table salt could be simple steps towards tackling the problems.
"Where food is consumed in the restaurant, it should become normal practice to offer the customer free water with the meal. This would lower the cost to the consumer and improve the diet of the child by significantly reducing the sugar intake of the meal."
Additional background information
The total number of obese children has doubled since 1982 and if present trends continue half of all children in England in 2020 would be clinically obese.
Most children in the UK eat too much fat (particularly saturated fat), added sugars and salt, with average salt intakes up to 50 per cent higher than recommended.
Only around one in eight children meet the recommendations for added sugars, around 8 per cent meet the recommendations for saturated fat and around 42 per cent meet the recommendations for total fat.
Children on average eat only two of the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
A recent survey by the FSA revealed that 41% wanted information and food to be made healthier by catering establishments, while 22% wanted food to remain the same but wanted nutrition information about it.
http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2008/jun/eatout
15 SWERCOTS authorities' work together to maintain and improve the quality, consistency and efficiency of Trading Standards Services provided to consumers and businesses in the South West of England in respect of:
The authorities that took part in the survey are:
Devon, Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Plymouth, Poole, Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Torbay and Wiltshire.
Consumer Direct on 08454 040506 provides free consumer advice. This service is provided by Consumer Direct in partnership with Devon County Council.
Advice can also be found at www.consumerdirect.gov.uk
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