Britain's major food companies, supermarkets and caterers are to join forces to launch a new coalition aimed at combating high rates of obesity in children. Stung by the increasingly fierce criticism of their role in Britain's fat epidemic, the industry is to put together its own taskforce to draw up an action plan to tackle the crisis.
The move is being seen by campaigners as a belated attempt to fend off the imposition of much stricter regulations over food. Many MPs want to see a complete ban on advertising of junk food to children on TV, and others are calling for tougher codes on labelling and on the way food is marketed. The new group will be launched tomorrow.
The British Retail Consortium, the Food and Drink Federation, the British Hospitality Association (caterers), the Food Advertising Unit and the National Farmers' Union are all part of the new group representing a £100 billion UK market.
The move was greeted with cynicism by Professor Tim Lang, one of Britain's leading food policy experts, as a 'last-minute-to-midnight' response.
'The food giants are so powerful and so arrogant that they have seen themselves as untouchable,' said Lang, professor of food policy at City University in London. 'I hope that they achieve something real, and that they don't come up with some token gesture of corporate responsibility, like a new label or low-fat product.'
Neville Rigby, policy officer with the International Obesity Taskforce which has been pushing for much more radical action from the industry, welcomed the move.
He said: 'Maybe the message is getting through to a lot of people that they have to start cutting fats and sugar in their products.'
The attacks on the industry came from several directions last week. The medical journal The Lancet called for legislation banning the use of celebrities such as David Beckham and Paula Radcliffe in endorsing fatty, sugary food. It singled out the BBC for criticism, for allowing its TV characters the Tweenies to be linked to the McDonald's fast-food chain.
The Commons health select committee also hit out at the celebrities who promote junk food, calling on them to reconsider their deals.
School Standards Minister David Miliband sees US-style summer camps as a way of boosting confidence in children, and of encouraging them to stay on into the sixth form. But exposure to new activities such as climbing, sailing or archery might also help foster a new interest in sports, which many teachers have been trying to achieve.
· The Observer has been calling for all children to be offered at least two hours of sport in school each week through its Fit For The Future campaign.
