British children are being encouraged to eat badly and the main culprit is the food industry itself. So claims a report published earlier this week by the Food Commission which pinpointed aggressive marketing campaigns as the main purveyors of bad advice.

The Food Commission, an organisation which campaigns on a number of food-related issues such as labelling, nutrition and safety, claims that the UK food industry is deliberately targeting both children and their parents with marketing programmes which encourage bad diet, and has called for the government to introduce a 'fat tax' on food which it considers unhealthy.

This would include products which contain high levels of fat, salt or sugar, the Commission said.

The report highlighted campaigns such as those featuring popular children's television characters which are clearly designed to encourage kids to buy the foods they advertise. It highlighted one campaign by Burger King which offered kids a free toy for every children's meal, and which the fast food chain said had doubled sales.

Kath Dalmeny, author of the report, said that the onus was firmly on food and drink companies. "Whatever the claims of the food industry, it is responsible for creating a climate that encourages unhealthy food choices," she said in the report. "Children are especially vulnerable, but also especially targeted by companies that exploit a wide range of marketing practices to encourage consumption of their products."

But the UK food industry, in the form of Martin Paterson, deputy director general of industry body the Food and Drink Federation, refuted the allegations. "Food and drink manufacturers take a very responsible view of their relationships with children and with marketing partners. There are already codes of practice governing children's advertising and these state that ads should not encourage children to eat or drink frequently throughout the day, condone excessive consumption, or suggest that confectionery or snacks should replace balanced meals.

"Manufacturers use advertising and marketing to promote the many thousands of brands in a competitive marketplace. This can, in fact, help parents and children to build a healthy diet from the wide range of wholesome and tasty foods available." The Food Commission's report was welcomed by other UK organisations fighting for better understanding of diet and nutrition. The British Dietetic Association itself launched a new campaign targeting the unhealthy eating habits of children earlier this month, citing figures which showed that childhood obesity is on the increase in the UK.

"The last Health Survey for England found that between 22 and 31 per cent of six to fifteen year olds were overweight and between 10 and 17 per cent were obese. The prevalence of obesity in Scottish children is 7 to 11 per cent higher than it was 25 years earlier," the BDA said.

Whether the blame for these alarming figures can be laid entirely at the door of the food industry is a moot point, of course, since consumers always have a choice of what to eat. But neither is the food industry completely blameless. European Commissioner David Byrne this week outlined plans to improve the labelling of food products and remove misleading statements such as '90 per cent fat free' (which means the product still contains 10 per cent fat), and such marketing claims have long been the centre of criticism from the Food Commission and others.

In reality, a 'fat tax' is little more than a pipe dream on the part of the campaigners, and the key to solving the problem lies as much in educating parents and children alike about what to eat as it does in wild accusations of the food industry as a whole. The fact is that people will always want to eat products which are bad for them, as they are often the ones which taste the nicest.

The important thing is that these should be eaten in moderation and the information about what they contain should be accurate and easily available. Easier said than done.