The publication of the Population Health Framework (PHF) and announcement to introduce restrictions on the promotion of high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) products are seen as important steps in the right direction.
Food Standards Scotland cautions that the current proposals fall short of delivering the scale of change needed to ‘transform’ Scotland’s food environment.
Scotland continues to face some of the poorest diet-related health outcomes in Europe. Levels of obesity, type 2 diabetes and other non-communicable diseases are rising, particularly among those in the most deprived communities.
Public Health Scotland data shows that children living in the most deprived areas are now more than twice as likely to be at risk of obesity compared to those in the least deprived areas.
Heather Kelman, chair of the FSS Board, commented: “We welcome the direction of travel, but action must be stronger, faster and better resourced. Public health cannot continue to take a back seat to commercial interests. Delays and compromises only serve to deepen existing health inequalities with a continuing increase in dietary related health costs.
“Without urgent and co-ordinated action, Scotland risks missing its ambition to halve childhood obesity by 2030, and allowing diet-related illness to continue placing unsustainable pressure on the NHS.
“Clinical solutions can help but are not a panacea and preventing dietary related ill-health conditions is still a much better solution. We need a bold strategy to reshape the food environment. The intent is there. Now we need delivery, leadership, and the political will across all UK administrations to follow through.”