Meal deals have very quickly become a lunchtime staple for many people, perfect when you forget to bring lunch to the office or while on a day out. However, some experts are calling for all meal deals to be made "illegal" and no longer sold.
Most supermarket brands including, Tesco, Morrisons, and Sainsbury's offer meal deals but experts want them gone from the shelves of these stores and in places like petrol stations, reported the Manchester Evening News. An expert from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says the meals should be made 'illegal' in the country's current obesity crisis.
Dr. O'Shea, the HSE's clinical lead, told The Pat Kenny Show that the meal deals rarely include healthy choices or options and therefore should be banned. He said: "Literally, that should be illegal."
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He continued: "The industry has the statistics and they know how to prompt and promote consumption, And 70% of people will say no the first time, but if the person behind the counter says 'well are you sure, it's a good offer'. Then another 30% will say 'ah yeah, go on"
"They are actually trained because the industry has the stats and they know how to prompt and they know how to promote consumption. We just have to be super aware of that and try to resist it. Those buy one get one free offers are always around the high fat, high salt, high sugar stuff, never around fruit.”
Earlier this month the World Health Organisation (WHO) released a major report that revealed obesity is responsible for 200,000 cancer cases and 1.2 million deaths a year in Europe. In the report, it said that no European country was "on track to reach the target of halting the rise in obesity by 2025."
Responding to the report's findings, O'Shea said: "We're beginning to see the impact of the Covid-19 restrictions on weight patterns in young people. We have a kind of population separation. About 2% of the population are super fit, have abs and bodies to die for. And the rest of us have fallen into what is now 65% adults overweight or obese and unfortunately the childhood stats have not improved.”
How would you feel if unhealthy meal deals were banned? Let us know in the comments below.
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