Unhealthy foods: Should multibuy offers on be banned?

Some concerns have been raised, however, that these proposals may negatively impact low income families.

Dr Ciara Fitzpatrick, a law lecturer and anti-poverty campaigner, told BBC Radio Ulster’s Evening Extra programme that there needed to be a “wider conversation” had about the “impact of the cost of living crisis and the fact that many low income families simply can’t afford more healthy options”.

“That is the elephant in the room,” Fitzpatrick said.

She believes that a “different position of unhealthy food in the supermarket or a different pricing structure is not going to change that very stark reality for many families in Northern Ireland”.

Without action being taken to make fresh fruit, vegetables and other healthy options more accessible to low income families, “we’re not going to see a massive dent in those obesity figures that are on the rise”, according to Fitzpatrick.

“I think we need to have a broader discussion about growing more local produce and making it more easily available to people here in Northern Ireland,” she said.

Professor Susan Jebb, chair of the FSA, said the proposals were designed to help people eat more healthily.

“We’ve all had the experience of going shopping with a list and somehow when we come home we’ve bought a few extra things as well,” Jebb told Evening Extra.

“And often those extra things are foods that are high in fat, in sugar and salt and they’re just not good for us. They’re leading to ill health.”

Jebb said that with the policies in place in England, some businesses have “tried to get around the restrictions a little bit”.

“So what we’re also interested in is thinking how we can potentially introduce these policies in Northern Ireland in a way which makes them most effective,” she said.

The DoH and FSA is interested in hearing from retailers, food businesses, manufacturers and local authorities, along with public health organisations, consumer advocacy bodies and the general public.