Leader comment: Takeways need to cut the size of chip portions

In 1971, the late Ronnie Clydesdale opened a restaurant in Glasgow, calling it the Ubiquitous Chip to take the mickey out of the city's idea of a vegetable accompaniment to, well, everything.

New takeaways would only be allowed in certain places under the draft policy.

While ‘the Chip’ famously didn’t serve them for years, it would appear that Glasgow’s takeaways – and probably those in the rest of Scotland – have been piling them on like there’s no tomorrow, with the average portion increasing in size by a gut-busting 80 per cent since 2002, according to Obesity Action Scotland.

A single bag of chips can contain as much as three-quarters of your recommended daily calories for an entire day.

But, with rising rates of obesity causing health and even economic problems, change is coming.

The Scottish Government and Food Standards Scotland appear intent on finding ways to help us reduce our calorie intake to a sensible level.

For restaurants and takeaways, that could mean being required to tell customers how many calories their food contains.

Such a step might help reduce the competitive pressures that have been driving portion sizes ever upwards.