Oxford nutrition experts have had their say on a debate aiming to cut sales of unhealthy foods to tackle the "public health emergency". 

Researchers from both the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes have recognised the challenges around the junk food crackdown as peers have called for companies to be fined if they do not follow the rules. 

Businesses would be required to report on their progress towards targets for the reduction of sugar and salt and face penalties for non-compliance under proposals by the Lords’ Food, Diet and Obesity Committee.

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The cross-party group is also calling for a blanket ban on junk food advertising and a higher sugar tax.

In a new report, the committee urged the Government to make a “decisive shift” away from policies based on individual responsibility and towards “bold” measures including increased levies and stronger regulation.

Among its recommendations is an uprating of the soft drinks industry levy (SDIL), which came into effect in 2018, to keep pace with consumer price inflation.

The Government should also lower thresholds for the tax from 5g and 8g per 100ml to 4g and 7g per 100ml and bring sugary milk-based drinks into scope by April 2026, the committee said.

As well as hiking the existing levy, the group called for a new salt and sugar reformulation tax regulation to target products not covered by the SDIL, which it said ministers should announce “as soon as possible”.

Oxford health experts have welcomed the recommendations but predicted resistance from the food industry and warned that changes would need to be “immediate, specific and measurable”.

“Although welcomed, approaches for food reformulation and banning advertising may be challenging given the conflict between food businesses’ need for profit over improving population health,” said Dr Aisling Daly, lecturer in nutrition at Oxford Brookes University.

Experts from both Oxford Brookes University and Oxford University have had their say Experts from both Oxford Brookes University and Oxford University have had their say (Image: Ed Nix) Dr Nerys Astbury, associate professor in diet and obesity at the Nuffield Department of Primary Health Care Sciences at the University of Oxford, added: “What is needed are immediate, specific and measurable actions which have the potential to reduce obesity and diet-related disease rates which contribute to ill health and have significant impact on the wider economy.”

The Food and Drink Federation insisted the UK industry “takes the issue of obesity and poor diets really seriously” and called for “regulatory certainty” in order for progress to be made.

Chief executive Karen Betts said: “Manufacturers have already made significant progress to create healthier options for shoppers, based on government guidelines and the HFSS regulations. UK shopping baskets now contain far fewer calories and less salt and sugar than they did in the past."

A Department of Health spokesman said: "This Government is committed to urgently tackling this issue head on, shifting our focus from treatment to prevention as part of our 10-Year Health Plan, to ease the strain on our NHS and help people to live well for longer."

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