Posted on 01/02/2007 9:47:39 PM PST by neverdem
Cheese is to be treated as junk food under new advertising rules for children's television.
Commercials promoting it will be banned during children's TV programmes and those with a large proportion of young viewers.
The rules, which come into force this month, are part of a Government drive to reduce children's exposure to foods high in fat, salt and sugar.
Much to the disgust of its makers, cheese is to be regarded in the same light as crisps, sugary cereals and cheeseburgers.
In fact, under the criteria used by the Food Standards Agency to determine junk foods, such products are actually regarded as healthier than cheese.
The ban follows evidence that TV commercials have an indirect influence on what children eat and are contributing to obesity in the young.
The Food Standards Agency model assesses the fat, sugar and salt content in a 100g or 100ml serving of food or drink.
But the British Cheese Board points out that a typical portion of cheese was 30 to 40g - not the 100g used in the agency's model.
Most cheese would be exempt from the ban if a typical portion had been used in the calculations, according to the board.
It pointed out that cheese was one of the most 'nutritionally complete' foods.
The National Farmers' Union described the decision as ' nannying gone mad'.
'To suggest there is anything inherently harmful about cheese is absurd,' spokesman Anthony Gibson said.
'There is no such thing as a bad food. It is just how much of it you eat, in what balance and how much exercise you take.'
He said the new rules were 'of no use to consumers', adding: 'It may very well put them off eating healthy things.'
Mary Quicke, who runs Quickes Cheese in Devon, producing handmade cheddar, said the rules had left her 'speechless'. ' Frankly, i t's bonkers,' she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
She said the FSA's decision to assess cheese using a 100g portion was ridiculous. 'Imagine eating 100 grams of cheese - that's four ounces. You would have to be a pretty dedicated eater of cheese to get around that.'
Other foods banned from advertising during children's TV include: Marmite, Flora Lite, half-fat cheddar, Dairylea triangles, bran flakes, camembert, sugar-coated puffed wheat, instant hot oat cereal, Jaffa cakes, reduced calorie mayonnaise, multi-grain hoop cereal, half-fat creme fraiche, takeaway chicken nuggets, potato waffles, Greek yoghurt (from sheep's milk), ham, sausages, bacon rashers, low-fat spreads, peanuts, cashew nuts, pistachio-nuts, peanut butter, raisins, sultanas, currants, low-fat potato crisps, olive oil, butter, pizza, hamburgers, tomato ketchup, chocolate, brown sauce, cola and lemonade.
Foods which escape the ban include: Plain fromage frais, fish fingers, lasagne ready meals, currant buns, malt loaf, frozen roast potatoes, chicken curry with rice ready meal, frozen oven chips, sliced white bread, cottage cheese, supermarket frozen chicken nuggets, milk, brazil nuts, canned strawberries in syrup, diet cola and chocolate-flavoured milk.
Nanny State Ping..........
Or should I say Nanny Goat Cheese :)
I am with you on this. They will have to pry it from my cold, dead hands.
And for all the cheeseheads on the go.
Cheese Whiz, yes folks, portable cheese, take it with you everywhere. :-)
Cheez Whiz is about the only "processed pasteurized cheese food" I ever use. I was using it to make a cheese sauce the other night (for potatoes and ham) and my 8 year old wanted to know what it was, she claimed she had never seen it, heard of it, or eaten it before........LOL!!!
This just gets funnier and more outrageous everyday.
That works for me.
I can almost, and I emphasize almost, understand the desire to restrict certain advertising during children's programming.....however the lists of permitted and prohibitted foodstuffs provided in this article are utterly ridiculous. Half of what is on the permissible list falls into my personal category of junk food, while much stuff on the prohibitted list would not.
IMO, the best censor of advertising to kids is the on/off button of the remote.
Oh, Brother. But I guess the sooner we're switched over to a Soylent Green-based diet, the better? ;)
I'm just crackers about cheese!
Ah-HA! So, soon they'll be harvesting our belly fat, will they?
It's interesting to see what 'else' the anti's will come up with to ban..................
Overeaters didn't stand up for smokers.
They can have my cheese when they pry it from my cold dead hands...actually brought cheese and sourdough for breakfast this morning. There aren't many kinds I don't like, though I'm partial to sharp cheddar (Cabot's Hunter's Seriously Sharp - mmmm...) and Brie.
Can't quite stomach Limburger, though my Dad loves the stuff. I can't get past the loaded-diaper aroma...
Aint no way in he!! they are taking my cheese away from me. When I was born, I was fussy and wouldn't shut up (Hubby says that is a precurser to what was to come) Anyway, my mother squished up some cheese and black olives and fed me. No crying after that. She craved them both while she was preggers with me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.