THE Consumers’ Association is threatening a boycott of top branded foods unless the Government and food industry take action to improve the nation’s diet and tackle obesity.

The watchdog insisted yesterday that the time for talking was over and said that it intended to press hard for change.

It claimed that poor diet was now linked to more deaths than smoking, with 30 per cent of deaths of coronary heart disease due to diet compared with 20 per cent of deaths due to smoking. It said that a third of cancers were down to diet — the same number accounted for by smoking.

The association, which has 750,000 members, also launched a powerful new advertising campaign showing a handful of greasy chips resembling cigarette stubs in an ashtray with the slogan: “Health Warning to the Government”.

It is demanding a commitment from the Government to set up a nutrition council and to ban advertising of all foods high in sugar, salt and fat from children’s TV and even from cinemas. It also wants the food industry and supermarkets to adopt a “traffic light” system of labelling to ensure that shoppers chose a balance of red, amber and green-coded items.

It is not saying that people should not buy “red” food high in fat, sugar or salt, but it wants them to be more aware of their consumption, especially as a quarter of people in the UK are now obese. Obesity also costs the economy about £2.5 billion a year and reduces life expectancy by nine years.

Nick Stace, director of campaigns, said: “Obesity and diet-related diseases are now seen as Britain’s biggest killers. But in response to that, Government and the food industry have produced consultations and consultations about consultations. They have produced half-baked and half-hearted initiatives and ideas that all add up to nothing.”

He said that the association could ask its members to support direct action, including a boycott of some products. “We had a boycott on the sale of new cars and that brought the car industry to its knees.” He said that Dame Sheila McKechnie, the former director of the watchdog who died recently, had told the food industry a year ago: “Stop poisoning our kids and if you don’t we are going to come after you.”

Mr Stace said that moment may soon arrive. The only brand he specifically mentioned was Kellogg’s Frosties Turbo which boasted of being “good for your heart” on the packaging, when he said it had five times the sugar as 100g of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes.

Products previously named by the watchdog include Nestlé’s Shreddies which contain 1.25g of salt (0.5g sodium) and Capri Sun blackcurrant drink which claims to be “perfect for lunchboxes” and has lots of blackcurrants on the pack when its blackcurrant content was only 5.1 per cent. A pack of Findus Minced Beef Crispy Pancakes contained only 13 per cent beef and was a high-salt product with 1.5g salt (0.6g sodium) per 100g — although the packaging stressed the low-fat nature of the product and stated that the pancakes were “great tasting food for kids”.

The Food and Drink Federation said: “All food on sale in the UK is safe to eat. Demonising individual foods and brands is not the way to educate people to eat a healthy diet. You can eat cream cakes and chips in a diet, but people should not eat them all the time. I don’t think scaring people is any good and putting a red label on a product will tell consumers nothing.”

Other watchdog demands are for new labelling rules to prevent misleading health claims on food products; a commitment to reduce fat, sugar and salt levels in all foods; financial incentives for supermarkets and food companies to promote healthier food and disincentives against unhealthy items; and a new Government-funded campaign to change eating habits.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• A vicar’s wife: ‘There is no one to fight for us’
• Every little helps at the supermarket
• Ugg or Fitflop? The battle of the boots