Bite Back - Fuel Us, Don’t Fool Us: Sweet Deception
New research led by youth activist group Bite Back have highlighted the indiscriminate tactics used by large food businesses to influence children's food decisions.
The report, entitled "Fuel Us, Don't Fool Us: Sweet Deception - Are Food Giants Using Child-Appealing Tactics Responsibly?" was presented to the House of Lords as oral evidence during their Food, Diet & Obesity Committee inquiry.
The report looked at the front of packaging of foods produced by the 10 leading food and drink businesses. With the support of our Campaign Lead Sonia Pombo, these were then verified and analysed for their nutritional quality. Of the 262 food products surveyed, a shocking 78% were deemed high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS).
Of the 10 businesses included in the analysis, seven of them (Ferrero,
Kellogg’s, Mars, Mondelez, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever) had the majority of their child-appealing
products deemed as unhealthy.
Bite Back are recommending food businesses to remove child-appealing features from packaging of HFSS food and drink, and for government to bring in new regulations to restrict the use of child-appealing features on the packaging of unhealthy products
