The Welsh Government have published a new consultation, considering a range of proposals to encourage people to change their eating habits and be more active, including a ban on energy drinks to customers under the age of 16.
Other measures proposed in the ‘Healthy Weight, Healthy Wales’ consultation published today (January 17th) include:
- Considering restrictions on the positioning of products in stores
- Considering restrictions on the amount of marketing of certain products in stores
- Looking at restrictions on promotions and discounting of certain products in stores
- Consulting on mandatory calorie labelling for food purchased and eaten outside of the home
- Consulting on banning energy drinks to under 16s
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “Over half of local shops already have a policy in place to restrict the sale of energy drinks to under 16s, often introduced in partnership with local schools and other community groups. If the Welsh Government sees fit to introduce a mandatory age restriction on energy drinks, we will work with retailers to ensure that they are prepared for the change in regulations.”
ACS has published guidance on the sale of energy drinks for retailers, which includes possible options for introducing a voluntary age restriction. The guidance is available here: https://cdn.acs.org.uk/public/energy-drinks-guideforretailers.pdf
The Welsh Government’s consultation does not set out specific detail on the type of promotions or parts of a store that would be affected by proposed restrictions, but does state that the Welsh Government is keen to work with the UK Government to ensure that there is consistency between England and Wales. A consultation on a range of restrictions on high fat, salt, sugar products including restricting multibuy promotions such as ‘buy one get one free’ and restricting the placement of HFSS products at checkouts, end of aisles and store entrances was published by the UK government on January 12th.
Mr Lowman continued: “We have been clear with the UK Government on similar proposals for England that there should be an exemption for small shops who would be faced with significant practical challenges if most of the space in their store was off limits for certain products. We urge the Welsh Government to ensure that any measures on restricting the location of products include an exemption for small shops.”
The full consultation document is available at https://beta.gov.waleshttps://cdn.acs.org.uk/public/consultations/2019-01/consultaton-document_0.pdf
