Scots’ love of fast food has become a weighty issue

Now that the Scottish Government is set to bring back minimum pricing for alcohol, will a McFat tax be next? After all, if booze is seen as the modern hammer of the Scots, our poor diet is surely the chisel – drilling into longevity, chipping away at vitality and hacking away at family budgets.

General hostility to Philip Morris’ Freedom of Information demands from Stirling University researchers shows how far the public smoking ban has tipped the scales of public perception against the tobacco industry.

The SNP’s whopping majority means public approval is assumed for its manifesto commitment to reintroduce minimum alcohol pricing. Why has fatty food not attracted a ban or price hike mechanism, when the health effects of a bad diet are just as negative, tangible and growing?

Last week, articles in the Lancet predicted 23 million people (40 per cent of the British population) would be obese by 2030. Some will suggest indicators like Body Mass Index exaggerate the problem. That won’t get away from the terrible truth. Scottish society is becoming more sedentary, fatter and older – obesity is fast making homes a prison, mobility a nightmare and old age a misery.

So the Lancet scientists called on the government to tackle obesity by taxing unhealthy foods and banning junk food advertising.

Extra VAT on burgers, chips and sweets was floated by Downing Street in 2004, but vetoed by Gordon Brown, who said it would disproportionately punish the poor. Of course the ill health caused by obesity (like smoking and drinking) also disproportionately punishes the poor. Advocates argue a fat tax would achieve more than a fistful of public health campaigns and save millions from healthcare budgets.

Eating, though, is an emotional, social and cultural activity – and unlike smoking, not harmful in itself. So there’s been a lukewarm reception to the idea of a fat tax from all the London-based political parties – and even though that can endear a social policy to the SNP, fat-tax critics are probably right.

Firstly, it’s doubtful if even the highly prescriptive SNP wants to go down in history as the party of the Scottish Nanny State. The Scots have accepted the smoking ban, but price rises on beer and wine from next autumn will prove enough of a dampener without tackling fatty and fast foods too.

More importantly, perhaps, which foodstuff really is Public Enemy No 1? Fat, saturated fat, transfats, sugar, salt or empty carbs? The prevailing wisdom is still anti-fat. But the total average fat intake has actually fallen in 25 years from almost 350g per week per person to less than 200g now. Obesity has still shot up. Diabetes has more than doubled. Heart disease has remained at the same level and there has been an increase in kidney disease. Could a switch from fatty foods to sugary, processed carbohydrate-based foods be to blame?

Last week bread, Chinese and Indian takeaways and lunchbox favourites for children were all condemned by health campaigners. Consensus Action on Salt and Health (Cash) found one in four loaves of supermarket and high street bread contained as much salt per slice as a packet of crisps.

The Local Government Group found chicken tikka masala contained 116 per cent of the guideline daily amount (GDA) of saturated fat. Sweet and sour chicken with fried rice had 119 per cent GDA of salt. Which? found Dairylea Lunchables Ham ’n’ Cheese Crackers had half the daily salt allowance for a child of five, while a 200ml bottle of Robinsons blackcurrant and apple Fruit Shoot had more than four teaspoons of sugar.

“Danger” seems to be lurking in some hitherto unexpected places – would all of these “unhealthy” foods be taxed?

A fat tax may be unworkable but that doesn’t leave government off the hook. Former MP Jim Devine is living testimony to the difficulty of quitting bad habits. It’s taken the harsh regime of prison to take 10cm off his waistline and probably add ten years to his life.

People don’t find it easy to change bad habits without coercion. And currently there is none save the ubiquitous portrayal of Size Zero models, tormenting the millions who comfort, binge, convenience-shop or plain over-eat. Someone has to intervene – and that someone is government.

It’s often said the poor eat fast food because it’s cheap, filling, quick and warming in a cold and damp climate. The Nordics, however, eat cold food all the time – even in deepest, sub-zero winter. Could that be because their homes are well insulated and their outdoor clothing warm and waterproof? Perhaps only the inhabitants of Broken Britain need hot food to warm up. The Nordics rise early and eat packed lunches that feature herring, salmon, cheese, yoghurt, crispbreads and pickles. Fast food is on the increase, but food preparation is still largely centred on the home, not the chip shop.

The SSP’s Colin Fox believes the recession actually strengthens his party’s long-standing argument for government investment in free school meals. Poverty is rising – the number of children in Scottish households with no working adults increased again last year. Without new eating habits developed outside the home, a new generation of children will regard fatty fry-ups as normal.

The SNP government has opted not to “roll out” successful free school meal pilot schemes – the current spending squeeze has been cited as an insuperable obstacle. So what new moves will it support to flush junk food out of Scottish society?

Angus Council uses fingerprint recognition in canteens so money is pre-loaded into children’s accounts and cannot be spent at Tesco or down the chippie. The biometric move has also speeded up queues – another reason kids eat outside schools at lunchtime – but the initiative was slammed by one MSP as “Big Brotherish”.

A fat tax may not be the right answer for Scotland in 2011 – but neither is government inaction.