Pub chefs urged to make vegetables part of main meals to improve customers' health

The Food Network has recently launched a fruit and vegetable pledge with initial signatories to be revealed soon. As part of the pledge, Dr Susan Jebb, chair of the Government’s Responsibility Deal, is asking chefs to help inform diners of healthy eating by making more ‘good’ food readily available to them.

“We are calling on businesses to offer vegetables as an integral part of a meal rather than a side,” she said. “The five-a-day mantra is the best-known guideline, so well known it has become part of the wallpaper.”

The Food Network predicts that 60% of men, 50% of women and 25% of children could be obese by 2050 if the problem continues to increase at the current rate, representing an annual cost of £50bn.

The Food Network has developed three other pledges so far, including out-of-home calorie labelling. Around 5,000 businesses are signed up to display calories and Jebb expects the figure to reach 9,000 by the end of the year. It has also launched pledges to reduce salt and remove trans fats.

The guidelines on trans fats have now been changed so companies can pledge that either their products do not contain trans fats or that
they are working to remove them. Jebb said: “We’ll work on reducing saturated fat from next year. But the emphasis will be on areas already identified.”

Companies had been asked to send in their proposals for signing up to the fruit and vegetable pledge by today (11 October).