UK battles obesity by banning junk snacks from supermarket checkouts

The United Kingdom is launching an all-out offensive against obesity.

The battle begins by banning the display of unhealthy food and drinks at supermarket checkouts. Any parent who’s ever walked their child past a rack of chocolate bars will be stoked.

Furthermore, junk items can’t be included in buy one, get one free offers. Even more further, websites aren’t allowed to flash obesity-causing goods on homepages, at checkout, or while paying. Oh, and no more free refills at restaurants.

The list of affected fatteners includes chocolate and sweets, crisps (that’s chips to us), soft drinks and sugary milk or juice drinks, cakes, pastries and puddings, biscuits, cereals, yoghurts, pizza, ready meals and chips. It should also include those magazines that promote ways to lose half your body weight in a week.

The new restrictions won’t kick in until April 2022 and there’s still some fine print to resolve. Nevertheless, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his top ministers support the effort. Nearly two-thirds of British adults are classified as overweight or living with obesity.

The last such initiative that gained traction in Canada was the so-called “sugar tax,” back in 2016. It goes without saying that nothing mentioned in this article stands a chance of consideration in the United States.