Like many of his colleagues Dan, a senior trading standards officer, is
increasingly concerned with the broader health agenda including the
labelling and composition of food.
When fellow officers Ralph and Sarah went out and bought a selection of
processed foods to be tested and analysed – chicken, beef, ham and cheese,
Dan was particularly interested in the findings they received back from the
lab…
The processed foods were full of artery-clogging fats, sugars and
constipating starches disguised by artificial colourings and flavourings.
Dan has no doubt that junk food is making us more unhealthy than we realise.
We still haven’t got clear and unambiguous labelling on food products. Some
popular fast-food restaurants still don’t highlight the fact that their
hamburgers are high in saturated fats, for example. Others boast of their
low fat products – such as vegetable spreads and mayonnaise - which are, in
fact, high in hydrogenated fats. And that’s not good for us, either.
Unfortunately, as the law stands at the moment, we can’t prosecute producers
who make false claims about the contents of their food products. But we can
persuade and educate the consumer about what to look for and what to avoid.
We work with schools, hospitals, restaurants and private catering
contractors to achieve healthy and potentially life saving (and tasty)
alternatives to chips with everything. The Food Standards Agency (FSA), is
currently outlining a new signposting system of bold labelling of food
content on processed foods and we are backing them with our campaigns of
consumer guidance.
