Labour to force restaurants to reveal what diners eat
Restaurants will be forced to tell the Government what their customers eat under 'nanny state' plans drawn up by Labour to tackle obesity.
Ministers are preparing to compel large restaurant chains and fast food giants to cut diners' calories in an efforts to help improve the nation's health. As part of the plans, businesses are expected to have to report how many calories customers consume on average.
The proposals have angered restaurant bosses, who claim they have not been consulted on the measures. Kate Nicholls, chief executive of hospitality group UKHospitality, said the industry had been 'totally blindsided' by the plans.
Ms Nicholls added that the proposals would lead to higher prices in restaurant chains, given the 'significant volumes of bureaucracy' involved.
The plans are being looked at as part of a broader obesity strategy launched by the Government over the weekend.
Under the proposals, supermarkets will be made to curtail sales of sugary and salty snacks in favour of more fruit and vegetables. It said food retailers risked fines if they did not hit targets.
Regulations on restaurants have yet to be decided. However, they are expected to mirror rules for supermarkets, which will have to cut 100 calories from the average shopping basket.
Restaurant chiefs said they expected to have to disclose how much fatty, salty or sugary food they were selling. They are braced for government-mandated targets around reducing calories, fat, salt or sugar, or some combination of all four.
The supermarket proposals have already been branded 'nanny state' measures by senior retail figures and Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary.
Ms Nicholls urged ministers engage with hospitality bosses, saying: 'This is really wide-ranging in scope. We really need the Government to start talking to the hospitality sector, not excluding it from these discussions, to make sure that we get the details right. We've yet to understand how mandatory reporting and targets would change the obesity situation in the UK.'
The prospect of a further clampdown on pubs and restaurants comes after a torrid couple of years for hospitality businesses, which have had to grapple with soaring costs for fuel and ingredients, as well as higher taxes levied on them in the Government's Budget last October.
UKHospitality has estimated that the Budget, which hit employers with higher National Insurance (NI) payments and lowered the threshold at which they are paid, has cost the industry as much as £3.4bn extra each year.
Many pub and restaurant companies have already paused investments and hiring in the wake of the Budget changes, which came into effect in April, while others have slashed jobs to save money.
It is understood that restaurants will only be required to report on calories and meet targets if they are deemed to be of sufficient size. Ministers have not yet decided how large a restaurant or chain will have to be to fall under the new rules.
Under legislation brought in by former prime minister Boris Johnson, restaurant and pub groups that employ more than 250 people have to display the amount of calories in their dishes on menus.
The policy was opposed by many in the hospitality industry, who argued it would heap costs on businesses, with estimates suggesting it had cost companies an average of £20,000 to implement in the first year of it being in force.
Calculating the amount of calories in restaurant dishes can be difficult and costly, particularly for smaller groups or more high- end restaurants where menus change more frequently.
Campaign groups have also raised concerns about the impact of widespread calorie labelling on people living with eating disorders.
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