The UK government launched its biggest assault on the obesity epidemic yet this week when the department of health unveiled the Change4Life coalition.
Through the new programme, health secretary Alan Johnson hopes to introduce a healthy-eating revolution that will slash dramatically the number of obese people and save the government billions in NHS bills.
He said: “Obesity is the biggest public health challenge the country faces. If we don’t take action now we will condemn our children to reduced life expectancy… We are aiming to create a lifestyle revolution that will help families to eat well, move more and live longer. We need everyone from grassroots community clubs to multinational companies to join us.”
Asda and Tesco have already joined the coalition and in an unprecedented move have made a pledge to government to cut prices on “healthy food”. The Association of Convenience Stores is also on board, and this week a Change4Life pilot gets underway in north-east England at Spar, Londis, Costcutter, Premier, Nisa and the Mills Group stores to improve the quality and promotion of fresh produce, with investment in new chillers and storage areas as well as promotions. This programme is expected to be rolled out nationally next spring.
“Ten million people visit their corner shops every day and 36m shop at Asda and Tesco each week - the fact that grocers and supermarkets are on board means we can really influence what goes into our shopping trolleys,” said Johnson.
Supermarket suppliers might be nervous that, as well as the opportunities it presents, the pledge by the UK’s largest supermarkets to cut prices might put pressure on their profit margins. A Tesco spokesman said: “Our plans are still in the pipeline, but there will be more work done in the community via our 60 community champions in schools, promoting healthy eating and giving out information and samples of fresh produce, particularly apples, bananas and oranges.”
And Asda told freshinfo: “We serve more than 16m customers a week, employ 165,000 people, and have committed to supporting Change4Life in communications to customers and colleagues through trading activity and the Asda website.”
The Fresh Produce Consortium sees the initiative as an opportunity and is in close contact with the department of health. “We are planning to meet with the department to discuss further how we can get engaged,” said a spokeswoman.
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