Qld leads charge on junk food crackdown

STUART LAYT
AUGUST 3, 2018
AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Queensland government will move to ban the state’s public hospitals from selling junk food and sugary drinks by the end of the year.
The state government is ramping up its fight against obesity, which will also include bans on marketing unhealthy junk food and drinks at government-owned facilities.
The crackdown will force hospital vending machines and cafes to move to healthier products, with Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles saying they should lead by example.
“By the end of the year, we’ll have a set of nationally-agreed standards for healthier food and drink choices in public health care facilities,” Mr Miles said in a statement.
“I want to see these standards phase-out sugary drinks and junk food from hospital vending machines, kiosks and other outlets.”
The measures are part of a new set of guidelines to reduce children’s exposure to unhealthy food and drink promotion, with the strategy signed off during a meeting of state and territory health ministers on Thursday.
Mr Miles said about a quarter of Queensland children are overweight or obese, and that shows the urgent need to limit access and exposure to unhealthy choices.
The guidelines focus on high-sugar items that are heavily-promoted to children, such as soft drinks, chocolate, lollies, burgers and deep-fried foods.
They are voluntary, but Mr Miles says all states and territories should follow Queensland’s lead.
“Frankly, the number of obese children will continue to rise if governments across the country don’t take significant action to combat the obesity crisis,” he said.