Celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall staged a public row with the Health Secretary today as he accused ministers of doing ‘next to nothing’ to tackle obesity.
The River Cottage star engaged in a furious TV clash with Victoria Atkins as he claimed there was a ‘crisis’ in Britain.
He said ministers had ignored a ‘raft of policies’ put to them by health-eating campaigners, such as himself, to combat the problem.
But Ms Atkins insisted she was working on a ‘prevention strategy’ aimed at stopping people from becoming ill, which would cover obesity.
She suggested the NHS app could help people take responsibility for their own health.
Celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall staged a public row with the Health Secretary as he accused ministers of doing ‘next to nothing’ to tackle obesity
Victoria Atkins insisted she was working on a ‘prevention strategy’ aimed at stopping people from becoming ill, which would cover obesity
Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show, Fearnley-Whittingstall said obesity was ‘the single biggest factor in the ailing health of the nation’.
‘Treating obesity is the single biggest cost to the NHS,’ he added. ‘We’ve got approaching three million people who are long-term sick.
‘The estimated cost to the economy of obesity is £100billion a year.’
He highlighted how campaigners such as himself, the Food Foundation, the Obesity Health Alliance, fellow celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, and businessman Henry Dimbleby – the Government’s former food tsar – had all offered a ‘raft of policies’ to ministers.
‘They’ve put a raft of policies, of levers that you could be pulling to address the obesity crisis,’ he told the Health Secretary.
‘You’re not pulling any of them, you’ve done next to nothing to help these ailing, struggling, sick citizens of the UK find healthier food.’
Responding to the accusations, Ms Atkins replied: ‘I’ve been in post for three months now… I will be, over the coming weeks, setting out a prevention strategy which, of course, will include obesity.
‘We make the mistake, I think, of siloing obesity by itself. We know that it can have many, many other conditions, including causing type two diabetes.
‘So, over the coming weeks you will see the Government set out our plans.
‘I want to take a strategic approach to prevention and, in fact, the biggest public health intervention we can make, we are making, which is creating the first smoke-free generation.’
Pushed on delays to measures to tackle unhealthy eating – including banning multi-buy deals and pre-watershed adverts for junk food – Ms Atkins said: ‘We’ve got to reflect the society in which we serve, in which the NHS serves.’
Fearnley-Whittingstall, a panellist on the show, replied to the Health Secretary’s comments by saying: ‘I didn’t hear any obesity strategy.’
Mr Dimbleby, co-founder of the food chain Leon, quit as the Government’s food tsar last year in order to be free to criticise its ‘insane’ inaction against obesity.