Junk food ban: What is included under new advert rules for online?

An advert ban is not the first government policy designed to help people eat less junk food – and generally consume fewer calories – that has been introduced in recent years.

Restrictions implemented in 2009 meant junk food could not be shown during the broadcast of programmes aimed at under-16s.

The policy also prohibited celebrities and animated characters from promoting claims about how healthy these food products were to children of primary school age and under.

A tax on soft drinks was announced in 2016. By 2019, it had helped remove around 45,000 tonnes of sugar from drinks sold in Britain, according to a report by Public Health England.

This is because manufacturers changed their recipes to lessen sugar content, which then reduced the tax they had to pay on sales of their drinks.

In April 2022, it became a legal requirement for hospitality businesses employing at least 250 staff – such as restaurant and café chains – to print how many calories were in each dish on their menu.

That same year, medium-to-large supermarkets in England were also stopped from displaying certain unhealthy food and drink in particular areas.