UnNews:Restaurants support Hunt’s war on puddings
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| Restaurants support Hunt’s war on puddings | 
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1 October 2016
LONDON -- The British Government have promised restaurants, cafés and pubs free advertising if they do not make their pudding portions smaller.
Health secretary Jeremy Hunt vowed to "name and shame" those that don't reduce the size of their cakes and croissants. He told chains such as Pizza Express, Starbucks, McDonald's and Gourmet Burger Kitchen to "step up" by cutting sugar and serving tiny desserts as part of the Government's bid to tackle obesity and make food and drink healthier.
The Health Secretary told food companies that, as eating out "is no longer a treat, but essential to survival," for those that are too bone-idle to cook, the companies needed to help reduce the nation's waistline.
"We can't ignore the changing habits of consumers.” Hunt asserted, though sweet-toothed consumers remain sweet-toothed, and only their budgets and waistlines have changed: “This means we expect the whole of the out-of-home sector — coffee shops, pubs, restaurants, takeaways, cafés, and caterers — to step up and deliver on sugar reduction."
Mr Hunt did not expand his waste-line to include cake shops, bakeries, fetes, petrol stations, fund-raising events, supermarkets, festivals, or bake-offs, leading food activist Duncan Hines to demand "a level playing field." He said it would "help us all make healthier choices" to make sugar not a choice at all.
Mr Hunt likewise omitted the around-the-home-sector; that is, the bedroom, basement or behind the shed, where portion control is both in the hands and around the chin of the consumer. This led healthy-eating chef Oliver Hardy to call the strategy "far from robust," compared to earlier proposals that the Home Office design companies' adverts itself or follow the consumer Home.
Under Mr Hunt's scheme, consumers will be able to check the companies' most luscious and gigantic cake selections on a government website. The exact basis for comparison has not been decided, but chains have suggested the best way to assist the public is with a photograph of the offending duff, a quick review by Mary Berry, and a one to five “fork rating.” For instance, "one fork" would pan the pan-fry as excessively flavourful, moist, and good value for money, at which point the patron would never, ever order it.
Mr Hunt privately told 100 food companies that "doing nothing was not an option", after he had asked them to cut sugar by 20% over the next five years and they in fact did nothing. He stressed that the decision must be made for the diner — except when the diner just asks for a double portion.
Sources[edit]
- Staff "Restaurants 'risk being named and shamed' in new Government war on puddings". Telegraph, September 30, 2016