Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has announced additional recommendations aimed at improving the Scottish diet, just over a year on from first setting out its ambition for change.
At the heart of these new recommendations lies the call for regulation of the food environment and an overarching strategy to make food eaten outside of the home healthier. The new recommendations are clearly aimed at restaurants and cafés but, with the rise of food-on-the-go, there are implications for c-stores too.
FSS is calling for an increase in healthier options, calorie labelling on menus, reductions in portion sizes and regulation of the promotion of unhealthy foods and drinks.
And, just as AG Barr announces sweeping reformulations to its portfolio, the recommendations also recognise the need to help small-to-medium sized businesses reduce the amount of sugar, fat, salt and calories in their products.
The proposals come against a backdrop of increasing awareness of Scotland’s poor diet and the potential health consequences it brings, with 61% of Scots saying they know they need to do something to eat more healthily – up by 10% in a year.
Chair of FSS, Ross Finnie, said: “The food environment outside of the home has a vital role to play in helping people in Scotland have access to the information and options they need to make healthier choices, and Food Standards Scotland has proposed an additional set of recommendations designed to deliver just that.”
