In a significant move aimed at tackling childhood obesity, the UK government will enforce a ban on junk food advertising before 9pm, commencing on 1 October 2025. This will see several popular food items, including porridge and granola, classified as unsuitable for early evening adverts.
The new regulations will encompass a variety of food products that score high in factors considered unhealthy, such as energy, saturated fat, total sugar, and sodium. Besides porridge and granola, the ban extends to ready meals, stuffed pasta, oat-based cereals, confectionery, soft drinks, ice cream, and pizza. Additionally, savoury snacks like crisps, pitta bread-based snacks, rice cakes, pretzels, poppadoms, and salted popcorn are included under these restrictions.
This policy aims to reduce obesity rates among children in the UK, where NHS data indicates that one in eight toddlers and primary school children are classified as obese. By eliminating about 7.2 billion calories annually from children’s diets, the initiative seeks to prevent 20,000 cases of childhood obesity, as reported by the Financial Times.
Wes Streeting, Health Secretary, highlighted the seriousness of the issue, stating, “Obesity robs our kids of the best possible start in life, sets them up for a lifetime of health problems and costs the NHS billions.”
The Labour government, after previous delays under Conservative leadership, confirmed these measures in September. According to Health Minister Andrew Gwynne, the approach is to “tackle the problem head-on,” enforcing not only a television advertising watershed at 9pm but also a complete ban on paid-for online advertising. This follows previous regulations introduced on 1 October 2022, which saw items high in fat, salt, or sugar removed from prominent positions in stores.
This development represents another step in the UK’s strategy to combat rising obesity levels, focusing on reducing children’s exposure to unhealthy foods through stringent advertising restrictions. The forthcoming ban underscores the government’s commitment to promoting public health through policy reforms.
