Junk food ad ban, age limit on energy drinks and expanded water fluoridation among measures planned to help NHS
Plans to ban junk food ads and to stop children buying high-caffeine energy drinks are among radical public health measures being drawn up by ministers to prevent illness and so ease pressure on the NHS.
The government made clear it would face down “predictable cries of ‘nanny state’” because Keir Starmer was convinced this was the way to fix the service.
Continue reading...Cafes, fast-food outlets, restaurants, bakeries, pubs and supermarkets accused of fuelling the obesity crisis
Some takeaway meals contain more calories in one sitting than someone is advised to consume in an entire day, a study of British eating habits has revealed.
Cafes, fast-food outlets, restaurants, bakeries, pubs and supermarkets are fuelling the UK’s obesity crisis because so many meals they sell contain dangerously large numbers of calories, it found.
Supermarket meal deals – usually comprising a sandwich, snack and drink – contain on average 780 calories, more than the 600 advised.
Burgers are the most popular takeaway dish in England, Scotland and Wales, followed by chips, fries or wedges.
People consume an average of 300 calories a day in takeaway food and drink.
Non-alcoholic drinks, especially coffee and fizzy soft drinks, contribute 12% of all the calories consumed by people in out-of-home premises.
Continue reading...Ruling by European court of justice ends 17-year legal tussle between Irish chain and global rival
The small Irish takeaway chain Supermac’s has won a David v Goliath court battle with McDonald’s over the use of the Big Mac trademark, paving the way for it to open outlets across Europe.
The ruling also means the US-founded fast food multinational has lost the right to use the name “Big Mac” in the EU in relation to chicken burgers.
Continue reading...Home of the patisserie falls for US doughnuts with hundreds of people lining up for opening of first branch
France, the country that gave the world the word “patisserie”, a nation famous for its macarons, meringues and millefeuilles, whose restaurants strive for gastronomic perfection and whose baguette is on the UN heritage list, has fallen for another foreign interloper: the American doughnut, or more precisely the Krispy Kreme.
On a freezing morning last week, 400 people, some having camped out all night, formed an uncharacteristically orderly queue for the opening of the US chain’s first outlet in a central Paris shopping centre.
Continue reading...Research presented to annual meeting of European Society of Cardiology prompts calls for action
Ultra-processed food significantly raises the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attacks and strokes, according to two studies that one expert says should serve as a wake-up call for governments worldwide.
Global consumption of heavily processed items such as cereals, protein bars, fizzy drinks, ready meals and fast food has soared in recent years. In the UK and US, well over half the average diet now consists of ultra-processed food (UPF). For some, especially people who are younger, poorer or from disadvantaged areas, a diet comprising as much as 80% UPF is typical.
Continue reading...Higher-than-inflation rises add to pressure on consumers facing steep price increases for food
KFC is pushing up prices at its Australian stores at a faster pace than its rival McDonald’s, with consumers paying up to 25% more for some of the fast food chain’s most popular items, new analysis shows.
The higher-than-inflation hikes add to the mounting pressure on consumers facing steep price rises for food, irrespective of whether it is sold through a drive-through window or supermarket checkout.
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Continue reading...White House denies cover-up, but critics say Eva Longoria-helmed Cheetos docu-drama distorts the true story of the spicy snack
When Joe Biden welcomed actor-director Eva Longoria to the White House for a screening of her Flamin’ Hot drama-documentary last week, the president hailed the story of the Mexican-American one-time janitor Richard Montañez as a tale of “courage”.
“When I think about tonight’s movie, I think about courage. So many of you, your ancestors left behind all that they knew to start a new life in the United States,” Biden told the crowd, before the president gave the Desperate Housewives star a hug and made an incomprehensible joke about when she was 17 and he was 40.
Continue reading...US fast-food chain says pilot program ‘seeks to take the complexity out of the ordering process’
The next time someone asks for fries with their shake, they might be talking to a robot. At least, that’s what the US fast-food chain Wendy’s has planned.
Next month, Wendy’s will be testing an artificial-intelligence-powered chatbot with the capability to speak with customers and take their orders.
Continue reading...Government sleepwalking, junk food and rising inactivity have created a health emergency that has been warned of for decades
The warnings about a looming, large and potentially lethal diabetes crisis in the UK have been sounded for years. Tragically, there is no longer any need for warnings.
Diabetes UK’s grim report confirms the worst: 5 million people are now living with diabetes, a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation.
Continue reading...Jackie Lansing sues coffee chain for C$500,000 after cup of tea that ‘collapsed’ and spilled on her stomach and legs left her ‘disfigured’
An Ontario woman and her family are suing Canada’s best-known coffee chain for C$500,000 ($366,000), alleging Tim Hortons served her “superheated” tea in a defective cup that left her with “horrific” burns on her body.
Jackie Lansing, 73, ordered a black tea while at a drive-through in southern Ontario last year.
Continue reading...Fast food chain reportedly experimented with mushrooms and chickpeas before settling on breaded cauliflower
Chick-fil-A is jumping on the plant-based bandwagon.
The Atlanta-based chain said on Thursday that it’s testing its first plant-based entree – a breaded cauliflower sandwich – at restaurants in Denver; Charleston, South Carolina; and the Greensboro, North Carolina, area. The test begins 13 February.
Continue reading...Dieunerst Collin, who became internet famous as a child for video of him at fast-food chain, signs advertising deal with company
A decade has passed, but at last the star of the internet meme showing a boy glancing sideways in confusion with a cup in his hand while standing in line at a Popeyes is capitalizing on his viral fame.
Dieunerst Collin, an 18-year-old player for the football team at Lake Erie College in Painesville, Ohio, can finally cash in on his online fame thanks to a change in policy from an organization which governs collegiate sports in the US that in 2021 enabled student athletes to earn money from sponsorship opportunities.
Continue reading...Sale by retailers and food outlets in England of single-use plastic tableware to be banned but not ‘shelf-ready pre-packaged food’ containers
Single-use plastic plates, cutlery and a range of other items will be banned in England from October, to curb their “devastating” impact on the environment, the government has confirmed.
The Department for the Environment said the ban will also cover single-use plastic bowls, trays and certain types of polystyrene cups and food containers.
Continue reading...Scrapping of adverts for foods high in fat, salt and sugar before 9pm will not now take effect until 2025
Rishi Sunak faces a furious backlash from health experts after his government yet again delayed plans for a ban on pre-watershed TV advertising for junk food.
A ban on adverts for foods high in fat, salt and sugar before 9pm was due to come into force from January 2023, as well as a ban on “buy one get one free” deals on junk food. However, in May, it was delayed for a year by the then prime minister Boris Johnson.
Continue reading...Fast-food chain temporarily changes recipe due to supply chain issues caused by floods in Queensland and northern NSW earlier this year
If you’ve noticed a twist in your Twister, or a bit more zing in your Zinger, it could be that Australia’s lettuce shortage is starting to bite.
KFC has advised customers that they are temporarily using a blend of lettuce and cabbage in stores in Victoria, NSW, Queensland, the ACT and Tasmania because of supply issues across the country.
Continue reading...The fast food chain has said components for the sandwich will be sold separately and customers will have to assemble it themselves
Burger giant McDonalds is causing something of a flap with a bizarre new set of forthcoming ‘menu hacks’ that includes a sandwich called “Land, Air & Sea,” combining fish, beef and a bird with dismal flying abilities – the chicken.
Menu hacks have in recent years become a popular way for the public to customize creations from existing items on fast food chain menus.
Continue reading...Over the past year, many of us have suffered from physical and emotional exhaustion. It is no surprise that people have turned to food for comfort
Naomi Boles hit a wall last October. “I wasn’t sleeping at all and I felt like I couldn’t keep going,” she recalls. “I was so stressed, and even when I was in bed my brain was constantly racing as I was worrying so much about my health, about my income, about my children. When I went to the doctor, it was like I’d reached a point where I couldn’t carry on any more.”
Nine months on, she is still recovering from that burnout. “I am finally getting to the point where I can be a bit easier on myself and not constantly be in this fight-or-flight mode,” she says.
Continue reading...Social distancing is feeding an appetite for a new generation of US-style drive-through restaurants
Drive-through restaurants used to be a US-inspired novelty but a big increase in custom during the pandemic means money is pouring into new UK sites, with even upmarket names looking to serve food through car windows for the first time.
New property research suggests that demand for drive-throughs has increased by 25% post-Covid with restaurant chains looking to open a total of 200 sites a year. The clamour comes as established names such as McDonald’s and Burger King face competition from North American brands such as Tim Hortons, famous for its coffee and doughnuts, and burger chain Wendy’s.
Continue reading...Fears of illness over nitrites used in US but currently banned in Britain and EU
British stores could be flooded with “dangerous” bacon and ham from the US, marketed under misleading labels, as the result of a transatlantic trade deal, says the author of a new book based on a decade of investigation into the food industry.
The meat has been cured with nitrites extracted from vegetables, a practice not permitted by the European Commission because of evidence that it increases the risk of bowel cancer. But it is allowed in the US, where the product is often labelled as “all natural”. The powerful US meat industry is likely to insist that the export of nitrite-cured meat is a condition of a post-Brexit UK-US trade deal, which the UK government is under intense pressure to deliver.
Continue reading...‘I’ve given up trying to control anything now,’ I announced last Tuesday while breakfasting on a packet of jelly babies
Food has lost much of its meaning for me. Well, its meanings, to be more accurate. A typical late autumn of eating has its rhythms: shortly after decorative gourd season and past toffee apple weekend (both cancelled due to lurgy), many of us move seamlessly into pre-Christmas hoarding and restraint mode. The hoarding begins with a casually snaffled box of stollen slices or a little bag of Lindt chocolate Christmas tree decorations, chucked into the shopping basket “just to get things started”. Then a shufti around Marks & Spencer’s food hall, where the displays of shortbread in commemorative tin boxes (those nice ones your mother used for her sewing kit) always bring a sense of minor panic that holidays are comin’ and I am unprepared. Begin the lists, open the iCal, commence the slightly terse intra-family emails. Panic!
I do not have a yuletide shopping delivery slot. That dodgy shelf in my chiller will not survive a fortnight of festive season fridge Jenga, and a better woman than me would have made her own figgy pudding by now. But, as I say, the hoarding won’t happen this year. The big Dent jamboree is cancelled. And the restraint – which runs in parallel from about now to late December – is off, too. About now, I generally have in the diary at least two festive gatherings where I envision myself slinking in wearing some frock that will require me to be a bit hungry for at least 22 days and say things like, “No, I love running five miles pre-dawn dodging flashers – it centres me”, and, “Toast is too filling and carby. I’m so happy with this bircher muesli.” The only thing most of us will be wearing this party season is slightly smarter pyjamas.
Life is quite bizarre now that the usual run-up to New Year has been steam-rollered. How empty does late November feel without a low, bubbling, passive-aggressive email chain between siblings about how much room a nut roast takes up in an oven? I feel oddly bereft without any invites to a mock-Bavarian Christmas market where I can drink £8 glasses of glühwein and eat a reheated wurst on the waltzer while listening to David Guetta. This week I noticed the first of the “What to do with Christmas day leftovers” tips and tricks in the papers. The notion of having so many visitors that you might be caught with a glut of food already seems oddly archaic.
Buying, planning and hoping for things to run like clockwork is a mug’s game. The rules are that there are no rules. “I’ve given up trying to control anything now,” I announced last Tuesday while breakfasting on a packet of jelly babies. I think it was Tuesday. It may have been Thursday. The Gregorian calendar feels so meaningless these days. Anyway, each baby was so chunkily delicious, and their pudgy little lightly frosted bellies slid so soothingly down my throat, that they felt momentarily like love and order. This one lemon, yum yum. This one raspberry, schlurp. I rarely ate sweets before the pandemic, but now, in the blur of news about possible vaccines, permanent restaurant closures and the millions of wonderful hospitality workers who will no doubt need to retrain in cyber, they’re the only thing that piques my attention some days.