Supermarkets criticised for junk food

Two of our region's supermarkets have been named as the "worst offenders" for undermining parents' efforts to give their children healthy food.

Research by the the Children's Food Campaign said that Asda and Morrisons, along with Iceland, display unhealthy food and drink at over three quarters of their checkouts.

They also found that none of the "traditional format" supermarkets they looked at had any healthy food options being promoted at checkouts. The majority of branches and high street stores regularly promote unhealthy snacks at their tills and in queuing areas, even though several of them promised to reduce doing it. Often junk food is positioned at children's eye level.

The Children's Food Campaign is now lobbying the Advertising Standards Authority to regulate the promotion of unhealthy food to children alongside broadcast and print advertising.