New Junk Food Ad Ban Extends to Porridge and Crumpets

A new prohibition on advertising for “junk food” will encompass specific varieties of porridge, crumpets, and breakfast cereals. According to the government, this legislation, set to take effect in October 2025, aims to reduce childhood obesity. It will apply to both paid online advertisements and television commercials broadcast before 9 PM. The prohibition targets foods the government classifies as “less healthy,” such as fast food, soft drinks, ready meals, pastries, cereal bars, and sweetened yoghurts. While cook and television presenter Thomasina Miers described the initiative as “bold,” the ban has also drawn criticism from various other parties. The specifics of these restrictions indicate that baked items like crumpets, scones, and pancakes are categorized as junk food under the new rules. Furthermore, advertisements for sugary breakfast cereals, including granola, muesli, and “porridge oats, including instant porridge and other hot oat-based cereals,” will no longer be shown on television before the watershed, as they are all deemed “less healthy” foods. The advertising of sweetened yoghurts and sugary beverages, encompassing fizzy drinks and certain fruit juices, will also face limitations. A scoring system, evaluating sugar, fat, and protein content, will be used by the government to categorize products, leading to a ban on advertising for all foods identified as “less healthy.” Consequently, healthier product variations, such as porridge without added sugar, salt, or fat, and unsweetened yoghurt products, will be exempt from this prohibition. Beyond television advertising, the new regulations also cover paid online advertisements for these items, aiming to decrease children’s exposure to foods rich in fat, sugar, or salt. This legislation is introduced amidst increasing childhood obesity rates in the UK, with data from the NHS indicating that nearly one in ten children of reception age (9.2%) are living with obesity. NHS statistics further reveal that 23.7% of children, or one in five, experience tooth decay by the age of five, attributed to excessive sugar intake. The initial announcement for a UK-wide ban on television advertisements for foods high in sugar, salt, and fat before 9 PM, intended to address this issue, was made by former prime minister Boris Johnson in 2021. Subsequently, the implementation of the ban was postponed until 2025, as the Conservative government stated its intention to allow the food and drink industry sufficient time to adapt to the changes, citing the cost of living crisis. During an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Ms Miers, a cook and co-founder of the Wahaca restaurant chain, expressed her approval of the advertising ban. She commented, “The government is taking very concerted, bold, and very brave action against big food [companies] who have a complete control of our food environment.” Ms Miers further asserted that the ban would alleviate the burden on taxpayers, referencing research by Professor Tim Jackson for the Food Farming and Countryside Commission, which indicates that chronic diseases linked to food cost the UK £268bn annually. She added, “We’ve got the worst diet in Europe and we know it’s causing us absolute pain, discomfort, long-term sickness, early death, preventable death. It’s bringing the NHS to its knees”. Despite her support, Ms Miers also stated that the “proposed legislation doesn’t go far enough” and called upon the government to intensify its efforts in addressing poor dietary habits. The government has projected that its legislation will avert thousands of childhood obesity cases annually and is anticipated to eliminate 7.2 billion calories from the diets of UK children each year. Conversely, Prasanna Callaghan, proprietor of Crumpets café located near Buckingham Palace, described the proposed advertising ban on baked goods as “bonkers.” He informed BBC News, “The world’s gone mad,” contending that the government’s legislation ought to differentiate more clearly between items like crumpets and what he considers more conventional junk food, such as fried chicken. He added, “If you categorise crumpets as a junk food that will have a great impact on my business – basically what they’re saying is: ‘you shouldn’t eat crumpets’, indirectly.” In a separate view, Maria McCracken, a mother of two from Ashford, Kent, voiced her disagreement with the advertising ban, emphasizing instead the significance of educating children about consuming healthy, balanced diets. Ms McCracken informed the BBC that she “cooked pretty much everything from scratch” for her children during their upbringing, though she noted they also shared “the occasional takeaway.” She argued that children should learn to prepare nutritious meals themselves, stating, “That really has to happen within the family, not the government banning something before nine o’clock.” The Slimming World consultant also expressed doubts regarding the effectiveness of the TV advertising ban in combating childhood obesity, remarking, “Are [children] influenced by the adverts? I don’t think they pay attention ever.” However, the government’s own impact assessment for the legislation observes that “overall the studies do find a clear link between food advertising and calorie consumption.” Former Conservative MP Paul Bristow conveyed to the BBC his apprehension that the new guidelines were excessively broad and encompassed “perfectly healthy” foods. The former Health and Social Care Committee member stated, “The government needs to get out of people’s lives and trust people to make their own decisions. They certainly shouldn’t say to people how many bowls of porridge they can eat of a morning.” Health Secretary Wes Streeting commented that the policy represents “the first step to deliver a major shift in the focus of healthcare from sickness to prevention, and towards meeting our government’s ambition to give every child a healthy, happy start to life.”