Happy meal ban to be pursued by councillors

Apr 4 2008

LIVERPOOL councillors last night agreed to try and stop the sale of McDonald's Happy Meals over fears they are damaging childrens health.

Councillors agreed unanimously to promote a private bill forbidding the sale of “junk food” with free toys.

If the by-law is successful, it will become the first of its kind in the UK. The plan was put before the Children’s Services select committee, who blamed fast food and high street names including Burger King and Wimpey for making children obese.

Cllr Paul Twigger, who presented a childhood obesity panel final report, said: “We want to look at some restrictions on not just Happy Meals, but Mars, Burger King and Wimpey and the like, because offering gimmicks with food is unethical.

“McDonald’s say their Happy Meals are low in salt, sugar and fat along with 75% of the food they sell.

“But I believe the majority of the food bought at McDonald’s accounts for the 25% high in fat, salt and sugar.”

Chairman, Richard Kemp, also suggested the council should lead by example and ban crisps and sweets from council meetings.

He said: “If we’re going to be telling children to eat healthily, we should be doing it ourselves.

“We should have healthy options in the council and across our partner agencies, we need to take the lead to show how it’s done.”

He blamed tobacco, alcohol and fast food for damaging children’s health and said that for the first time, children were more likely to die younger than their parents.

When the plan was first revealed, a McDonald’s spokesman said: “Today the average Happy Meal is 40% lower in salt, 28% lower in sugar and 21% lower in saturated fat than five years ago.”