The manifesto, ‘Our Children, our Future’, identifies five pillars of action for Government to take, they are:
- Make free, healthy and sustainable school food a priority for all children from nursery to sixth form/college.
- Protect children from the ‘flood’ of unhealthy food advertisement and marketing.
- Ensure honest and trusthworthy information on food and drink packaging.
- Make nutritious food affordable and accessible for all families.
- Stop the sale of high energy caffeine drinks to children.
It will be delivered by a delegation of parents to whichever political party wins the next General Election.
The launch of the manifesto follows on from new research which highlights how it’s becoming harder for parents to help their children eat healthy food, due to cost-of living-pressures and food marketing.
Based upon a poll of over 2,000 parents by Savanta and the Children’s Food Campaign at Sustain, the research reveals:
- Nearly eight in 10 parents are finding it harder to promote healthy eating habits with their children.
- More than two thirds worry about what their children are eating.
- Nine in 10 parents (88 per cent) say their children are influenced by unhealthy food advertising.
- Nine out of nine parents agree that the use of child-friendly characters results in children asking for the product.
- Just over half of parents (55 per cent) think the food in their children’s school is nutritious and appealing.
Jaynaide Powis, parent of 22-month-old, said, ‘As parents, we do our best to ensure that the food our children eat is nourishing, healthy and enjoyable yet our abilities and intentions as parents are too often restricted by means beyond our control.
‘Without doubt, any government cannot afford, morally or financially, to leave any children behind and parents must be able to trust that the food they buy is healthy. This way we can feed our children knowing that their health and wellbeing is a priority and ensure that nutritious food is always the default.’
Barbara Crowther, Children’s Food Campaign manager at Sustain, commented, ‘It should be easy for children to eat healthily but the reality is it’s not. Parents are battling daily against a barrage of unhealthy marketing campaigns, pricing barriers and confusing messaging.
‘With many parents worrying about what their children are eating and say it’s getting more difficult to ensure their children are accessing healthy food, we call on policy makers and all political parties to put aside arguments of nanny statism and listen to what support parents really need so that together, we can put children’s health at the heart of their future.’