Summertime...and the living is healthy...

If music be the food of love....then you had better hope that your romantic tune of choice is low-fat, high fibre and nutritionally balanced. 

The UK government launched its National Food Strategy this week amid some concerns that it focuses more on the responsibilities of food manufacturers, suppliers and retailers, while not sufficiently supporting the role played by early education and lifestyle choices in personal health. With obesity now strongly linked to negative outcomes in those contracting Covid 19, the strategy also hopes to fight the virus on another front to reduce the number of future deaths. 

Of course, the food industry is a business sector worth billions each year, therefore there are significant economic drivers for food fraud. Will the push from government to make more healthy food available also lead to an increase in mislabeling? Some FBOs view their label as 'real estate', whereby as many positive claims as possible should be employed to grab the consumer's attention. The use of false or misleading  'healthy' claims may just be too much of a temptation for some to resist. Your battered, deep-fried parsnips may be a tasty non-meat alternative, but citing them as 'one of your five a day' may not be quite in line with Gov.UK's core message. Protect your business, and the consumer, and ask an expert what you may claim on your product label. Increased scrutiny is coming and Henry Dimbleby is asking the industry for a change of clothes...