New plan to cut childhood obesity
Fast food restaurants which give away toys with children's meals could be banned from using such marketing ploys in Liverpool.
The move, suggested by one of the city council's scrutiny committees, is part of a series of initiatives to help tackle childhood obesity in Liverpool.
Restaurants like McDonalds, which offer free toys with their children's meals, could suffer if a by-law is introduced.
A McDonald's spokeswoman said the firm followed advertising codes of practice.
She added that McDonald's strongly rejected any claims that it marketed so-called 'junk food' to children.
Liverpool City Council's Childhood Obesity Scrutiny Committee is behind the idea to implement a city-wide ban on fast food outlets offering free toys with children's meals.
'Stringent principles'
The idea, which is still in its very early stages, was inspired by a similar scheme in Germany where the promotion of fast food outlets using free toys was banned.
A spokesman for Liverpool City Council said: "We have a number of strategies running across the city to help reduce childhood obesity and are looking to see whether it is possible to prevent fast food restaurants from directly appealing to children through free toy offers."
A spokeswoman for McDonald's said: "McDonald's is not able to respond directly to the proposals discussed by Liverpool City Council's Childhood Obesity Scrutiny Group, as there is little detail to the proposal at present.
"McDonald's is a responsible advertiser. We adhere to all current Codes of Practice and have our own equally stringent principles for marketing, which in many cases exceed current regulations and guidelines."
She added that the average Happy Meal was 40% lower in salt, 28% lower in sugar and 21% lower in saturated fat than it was five years ago.
She said the firm had put animated characters such as Shrek, Scooby Doo and bees from Bee Movie on a variety of food and drink items including fruit bags, carrot sticks and milk.
The scrutiny committee is to meet next month where it will decide whether to make a recommendation to the council.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/...ide/7263106.stm