If fast food chains do not make their products healthier quickly, the Scientific Institute for the CDA wants to consider a ban on the sale of fast food to children. That’s according to a report released Tuesday. It has not yet been decided from what age that would be. In the report, the Scientific Institute (WI) wants to set a limit that is “comparable to the limit for the purchase of alcohol and tobacco.” He is currently eighteen years old.
“Fast food has become an indispensable part of the street scene,” says the Healthy Living report. “Portions have become much larger. Processed food and drinks are less healthy, and excessive consumption of them leads to diseases of affluence.”
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The report puts forward an idea to use the proceeds of the tax on unhealthy products to lower the price or subsidize healthy food. According to the think tank, efforts should also be made at European level to meet healthier requirements for the composition of foods.
Fraction
The parliamentary party of the CDA thinks a minimum age for buying fast food is going too far. The report does contain “good proposals, such as tackling advertisements for unhealthy food or more room for municipalities to regulate fast food chains,” writes CDA MP Anne Kuik. on Twitter† Until now, the CDA was opposed to government intervention in the case of an unhealthy lifestyle. In 2017, the sugar tax was removed from the election manifesto. Kuik: “If the problem lies with the fast food companies, we have to look for the solution there. And not with the youth.”
Several political parties have also indicated that they do not see anything in the proposal for a minimum age. JA21 and FVD, among others, believe that the parents are responsible for the nutrition of their children, and not the fast food chains. VVD MP Rudmer Heerema says he finds the proposal for a minimum age “patronising”. The BoerBurgerMovement writes on Twitter that people should make their own choices about food. “BBB thinks any general ban on food and drink is a bad idea.”
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In addition to a minimum age, the CDA think tank also argues for an obligation for fast food companies to make the offer healthier. The government could set requirements for this. In addition, municipalities should be given more options to prohibit the arrival of new fast food companies and there should be a ban on the marketing of unhealthy products to children and young people.