Call for ban on TV junk food ads before 9pm

The government is failing to protect thousands of children at risk from obesity and cardiovascular disease, a leading food charity has warned.

The group Sustain says the Department of Health is not doing enough to regulate the sale and marketing of junk foods with a high salt and fat content, which have been linked to thousands of preventable deaths. Children were particularly susceptible to advertising, their report claimed. The charity urged the Government to introduce a 9pm watershed on junk food adverts on TV.

Trans fats – declared toxic by the World Health Organisation – are present in many processed foods. While some companies pledged to remove them from their foods, it is only subject to voluntary regulation in the UK.