Fast food fatcats face committee

Burger-kind? The Health Committee considers the dangers of fast food

Corporate giants from the commercial food industry took the stand at the Health Committee this week.

McDonalds, Cadbury Schweppes, PepsiCo UK and Kelloggs faced a hardened committee of MPs who have been holding a long-running inquiry into the state of the nation's health.

Companies were accused of marketing high calorie meals at children, while neglecting the health implications of a fast food diet.

Chairman David Hinchliffe said some foods should carry health warnings on the packaging rather like tobacco.

And few in the packed committee room could say they were unimpressed by the telling statistic he offered.

Nine mile walk

Apparently a certain cheeseburger with fries and a milkshake would take nine miles to walk off, he claimed.

"At the moment calorie content does not mean a great deal to people,

"Perhaps the message is not sufficiently blunt," the Chairman said.

Martin Glenn president of PepsiCo UK, which owns Walkers Crisps, said any labelling system would have to be "universal".

The committee already had Pepsi Co in mind in an earlier session when it criticised stars like Gary Lineker and David Beckham for advertising the brand's products.

Medical evidence

And a recent article in reputed medical journal The Lancet went further when it suggested celebrity endorsement of 'junk food' should be banned.

But while the government admits concern about the growing incidence of obesity in the UK a spokesman has said no legislation is yet "on the agenda".

UK food and drink manufacturers must instead "abide by a strict code of practice when advertising to children".

Yet the scale of the problem has been highlighted by a recent Food Standards Agency report.

The report claims some 15% of 15 year olds are now obese - three times as many as 10 years ago.

You can watch the committee on BBC Parliament on Sunday 30 November at 1800 GMT