This is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's letter to the Government regarding the obesity epidemic:

Hugh’s statement on ‘Childhood obesity: a plan for action, chapter 2’

"It feels like a real breakthrough that the Government have set a genuinely ambitious target: to halve childhood obesity by 2030. Achieving that would make a difference to millions of young people, and in the long term start to ease the huge burden that obesity is putting on the NHS. Having such a clear target is vitally important, both for directing the government’s efforts, and measuring their success over time.

What we must now do is pull out all the stops to get through the consultancy phase rapidly and actually make this happen. The health of our kids depends on this strategy becoming a reality as soon as possible.

We are currently bombarded with unhealthy food at almost every turn, so it is great that measures such as tackling temptation at tills are being addressed as a part of this strategy. Although some shops have already done this, there are many others that are endlessly pushing confectionary at the checkout – it needs to be a level playing field and all shops should be included in this action.

Finding out what is in the food that we are eating and feeding our families can be a minefield – we need to do everything that we can to support the public in making informed choices. It is really encouraging to see that mandatory, clear calorie labelling in out of home eating is in the new strategy.

These commitments will need to be matched by a determination from Government across departments, from the food industry and from parents to raise a generation who really understand what healthy eating is, and just how important it is to our well-being. I understand that the Government is planning to place restrictions on the sale of unhealthy food, but I’d like to know what they are going to do to promote the good stuff - particularly fresh vegetables.

Although this is very promising, it is just a start. We must not get bogged down in lengthy consultations. We have to act now if we’re going to get anywhere near that exciting target and really put the health of our children first.” - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall