Sainbury’s chief executive Mike Coupe has called on Theresa May to toughen the regulations on the childhood obesity plan.
The much-anticipated childhood obesity strategy, including the controversial sugar levy was announced yesterday, with Coupe becoming the latest to condemn the policy.
The British Medical Association said the new plan “rowed back on its promises by announcing what looks like a weak plan rather than the robust strategy it promised”.
A key point was that this would be voluntary which many, including Coupe, regard as ineffectual.
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Coupe said in a letter to The Times: “We need compulsory and measured targets for the reduction of sugar (and other nutrients such as saturated fat) across the whole of the food and drinks industry. Nothing less will work.
”We have seen this with voluntary targets on reformulation and labelling, which led to a piecemeal response from business.”
The British Retail Consoritum echoed this in a statement.
“It is vital that this be adopted by all food companies, which is why we have argued for a mandatory approach,” it said.
“The government needs to demonstrate its proposals will be equally effective and will have the same impact as would mandatory targets.”
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