Chocolate bars to be smaller!

I’m not sure this is the right decision but probably for some people it will work. The fact is that the Food Standards Agency in the UK is going to reduce a chocolate bar in order to cut daily calorie intake.

Confectioners will be asked to make voluntary changes to the size of their snacks. According to the plans by 2012 all chocolate bars will weigh no more than 50g. To compare, currently Mars bars are 58g.

Besides, chocolate producers have been asked to sell bite-size bars as single items rather than as part of multibags. And promotion of large supersize items – such as the Maltesers ‘Big Bag’ – will be discouraged.

Food Standards Agency plans include not only restrictions on confectionery consumption but on fizzy drinks too. Within six years the size of containers for fizzy drinks is to be reduced as well. Thus, the drinks will be sold in 250 ml containers instead of standard 330ml for most brands.

To add to that drinks’ ‘added sugar’ levels will be decreased by 4 per cent within three years.

Gill Fine, from the FSA said:

We are not telling people what to eat. We want to make it easier for people to make healthier choices — to choose foods with reduced saturated fat and sugar — or smaller portion sizes.’

Julian Hunt, director of communications for the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) said the FSA have already changed the recipe of some popular products to make them healthier.

He said:

There are very significant technical, financial and consumer challenges that companies have to overcome with every new recipe development, and policy makers need to be realistic about the pace at which our members can be expected to keep delivering new innovations – particularly in the current recession.

We are pleased that the FSA has recognised the considerable work undertaken by our members. But we are disappointed that it appears to remain committed to setting arbitrary targets for specific nutrients in certain foods, rather than focusing on the need for everyone to achieve a balanced diet and lifestyle.

We are committed to working in partnership with Government and its agency to help consumers eat more healthily – and reformulation is just one of the ways in which we will continue to make a real difference.’

Lots has been done and yet there is much to do. The FSA expects are going to make final recommendations by the end of the year.

All this work is necessary to reduce the number of obese people in Britain. It is terrible but by 2050 up to 60 per cent of Britons will be obese. To prevent that, some measures have to be taken. And probably the ones mentioned above will be helpful.

• chocolate bars
• mars chocolate

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