It's clear from rising levels of childhood obesity (and with them the spectre of an increase in diet-related diabetes and heart disease) that parent power is losing out over pester power.
Let's face it, the vast majority of today's 20-, 30- and 40-something parents don't have a clue - or just don't care - about good diet and nutrition, having missed out on food education at school. They are all too evidently unlikely, or unable, to look after their own diets, never mind pass down good dietary advice to the next generation.
It's estimated that 29% of children in Scotland are overweight or obese. That figure increases in deprived areas, where locally sourced fresh food is often unavailable, even for those with the wherewithal of what to do with it.
Faced with this alarming statistic, it's clear that intervention is needed from outwith the family. Thankfully, there are hundreds of great initiatives taking root, all aimed at teaching children where their food comes from and how to grow it. It's hoped this might result in a kind of reverse-education situation, where children teach their parents and grandparents about the benefits of eating fresh and local.
But a surprise new discovery, at least for me, is how the mighty UK food industry is positively responding to the challenge, set by government, of how it might lead the fight against obesity by reducing salt, fat, sugar and portion sizes in products. Scotland is unique, in that the Government has funded a free service for food-producing SMEs (small- to medium-sized enterprises) to help them alter their recipes without compromising on taste or food safety. The Reformulation Programme is being delivered by the Scottish Food and Drink Federation (SFDF) via technical advice workshops in Glasgow, Fife and Aberdeenshire, until September.
The programme is based on research that shows consumers are becoming more aware of healthy eating and the importance of checking food labelling. So far, 37 SMEs have signed up, and if their brands are relatively unknown compared to, say, Kellogg's or Heinz, then surely that is all to the good. The big brands can afford to invest in altering their recipes to lower or eliminate salt, fat and trans-fat content, and have the cash to shout about it on labelling and TV commercials. The smaller companies who produce locally-made curry sauces, artisan sausages, steak pies and morning rolls, for example, cannot do the same without financial support.
Small steps can form major new pathways.
A change to the recipe for the premium sausage seasoning at T&R Skinner of Kippen, for example, has led to a 25% reduction in the salt in this range: not a bad result, when it's selling 60,000 premium-range sausages a year through shops and using them in its catering business. Skinner's is also changing the recipe for the gravy in its steak pies to cut the salt content of the 8000 sold each year.
There has been no decline in sales; by all accounts, the market for such items is set to increase. Cameron Skinner began the Reformulation Programme because healthier artisan products are increasingly popular among his customers, whom he describes as "modern, food-educated and health-conscious".
Similarly, Maclean's Highland Bakery in Forres has amended its steak-pie recipe to lower the salt content by 50%, and now sells 4000 of them each week through its own shops and local branches of Tesco.
On a larger scale, Yeung's Chinese Foods, based in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, and best known for the Yeung's brand Chinese curry-sauce mix, sells more than one million packs each year through two supermarket chains and also in Chinese takeaway outlets throughout Scotland.
Starting in November 2012, the company introduced a stepped programme of salt reduction, with a 12% drop over five stages. Yeung's says it has had no negative feedback from customers, and it is looking at reducing the fat and sugar content of this product too. The company says its Chinese curry-sauce mix was developed 20 years ago when consumer preferences were different, and that, in recent years, consumer tastes have changed, with people preferring less salty food products.
Salt was just the beginning. Now the focus will embrace reducing fat and sugar. The beauty of SMEs is that they are more flexible and adaptable, which can give them a competitive edge. I'd encourage more of them to do the same while there's still time.
The SFDF's Reformulation Programme is unique in the UK, and I understand its London counterpart is now considering taking similar work forward in England, so that it will develop across the UK.
With obesity, diabetes and other diet-related health problems as rife south of the Border as they are here, that's what I call joined-up thinking.
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