Hidden Food Nasties Revealed In New Change4Life Campaign

Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 09 Jan 2013 - 0:00 PST


New 'Be Food Smart' campaign launched

A ground-breaking new campaign exposing the 'hidden nasties' in everyday foods and helping people to be 'food smart' is launched today by Public Health Minister Anna Soubry.

Graphic new advertising from Change4Life reveals a shocking 17 sugar cubes in a bottle of cola and more than a wine glass of fat in a large pizza.

The Change4Life adverts, which are made by Aardman, the creators of Wallace and Gromit, has joined forces with a range of food manufacturers and ITV to host the first ever health-focussed ad break.

The 'ad takeover',  which will air tonight  (7January) during prime-time in Coronation Street, marks the launch of a new year healthy eating drive and will feature ads from Asda, Quorn, Uncle Ben's, the Co-Operative Food and Cravendale.

The unique ad slot is the centrepiece of the campaign that encourages the public to think about the 'hidden nasties' in everyday foods so they can better manage the amount of salt, fat and sugar in their diets.  It also includes a range of healthy eating tools and information from recipes to money-off  vouchers.

There will also be hundreds of offers on healthier products at more than 1,000 ASDA, ALDI and the Co-Operative Food stores across the country to give a helping hand with the cost of kitchen cupboard basics.

Everyone that signs up to the campaign will get a free 'Food Smart Meal Mixer' with lots of quick, easy, healthier recipes with enough combinations to eat a different daily menu every day for six years.

Those that sign up to the campaign will also get a range of great offers including free Cravendale milk and money off Quorn Best Ever Mince or Chicken style pieces, Schwartz spices and seasoning and Robinson's Fruit Shoot My-5.

Public Health Minister Anna Soubry said:

"Making healthier, balanced meals on a budget can be a challenge for families. This new Change4Life campaign offers families free healthy recipes and money off those much needed cupboard essentials to encourage everyone to try healthy alternatives.

"Thanks to the continuing success of Change4Life, a million mums have changed their behaviour.  But England has one of the highest rates of obesity in Europe with over 60 per cent of adults and a third of 10 and 11 year olds overweight or obese.

"We want to make it easy for everyone to keep track of what they eat and make healthier choices. That is why we are also developing a simple and clear system for front of pack labelling that everyone can use."

Department of Health Director of Marketing Sheila Mitchell said:

"This is first time ITV has teamed up with us for an ad takeover.  We have worked closely with partner organisations including ASDA fresh fish and Uncle Ben's rice to highlight how easy it is to eat well on a budget.

"The takeover closes with a reminder to sign up to Change4life to receive a free meal mixer."

After signing up to Change4Life online, families will receive the meal mixer which they can use to compare and combine different meals to suit their lifestyle. The range of healthier low cost meals includes turkey stir fry and vegetarian chilli.

And this year's campaign features a brand new smart phone and tablet app featuring a meal mixer and a handy shopping list function to help people make healthy choices in the supermarket.

The campaign comes as a new survey reveals the nations lack of knowledge about the food they eat. The survey found that:

• half of those surveyed (50 per cent) didn't know that there are 11 lumps of sugar in a can of cola; and
• 49 per cent of people aren't aware that a large takeaway pepperoni pizza has two times the recommended maximum daily intake of saturated fat.

Obesity costs the NHS £5 billion each year with 40,000 people dying of conditions attributable to being overweight or obese. And the latest figures show that the number of children who are overweight or obese doubles during primary school.

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