Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has said Government and industry need to do more to tackle the obesity crisis following reports of an increase in sales for confectionary goods during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Data from FSS revealed that while home cooking and meal ingredients, such as canned goods and dried pasta, saw an increase throughout lockdown, sales of confectionery products like biscuits and crisps were also up.
Results from the FSS Covid-19 Tracker showed that in May 2020, 44% of people reported snacking on cakes, biscuits, confectionery and savoury snacks more often than before lockdown.
FSS’s chief executive, Geoff Ogle, said: “Scotland’s battle with overweight and obesity has been brought into sharp focus by the pandemic, as poor diet is a contributory factor to increased risk of poorer health outcomes from Covid-19. This is in addition to the well-established links between poor diet, obesity and coronary heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, stroke and some cancers.
“Cutting back on discretionary foods and building on the shift we have seen around purchase of more fruit and veg would help improve the balance of our diet and lead to better consequential health outcomes.”
“The increase in vegetable and home cooking ingredients purchased is encouraging, with people reporting that they were cooking more from scratch. We need both Government and industry to build on these encouraging findings.
“We all deserve an occasional treat and unhealthy snacks can be hard to resist, especially now, but we shouldn’t forget that these types of foods are not needed in our diet. We have seen through the increased purchase of fruit and veg that habit changes are possible even in these tricky times. Cutting back on discretionary foods and building on the shift we have seen around purchase of more fruit and veg would help improve the balance of our diet and lead to better consequential health outcomes.”
The results also showed that that shoppers bought 44% more food and drink from shops and supermarkets in the week before the national lockdown in March 2020, compared to March 2019.
People in Scotland made fewer trips to stores during lockdown compared to 2019 as people spent more time at home. Overall during lockdown, people in Scotland shopped for food less often and bought more from discounters, smaller retailers and convenience stores than over the same period in 2019. Ogle continued: “As we move through the pandemic, it is essential to assess positive shifts in behaviour so Food Standards Scotland will continue to play its part to ensure people in Scotland have healthier diets. We will collaborate with consumers, Government, the food and drink industry and other partners to improve diet in Scotland, move towards healthier living, and sustain that improvement going forward.”
