It got a real grilling from food experts, nutritionists and doctors alike, as well as those souls who wouldnt have touched one with a barge pole even before the hype.
So what was the fuss about and has anything changed? Lots of things and yes. Ready meals were slammed for serving up unhealthy and unbalanced food to the general public and packaging it up to be not just convenient but family friendly too. Rumblings about the alarming rise in obesity and associated illnesses such as high blood pressure, heart attacks and diabetes started to be heard from those in the medical profession and the convenience critic was born. It seemed as though the countrys obesity problem was no coincidence, as peoples lives got busier and busier and both mum and dad started to work full time, food that required little to no preparation and minimal cooking time became attractive, very attractive.
This in itself was not the problem; the problem was the content of these convenience foods and the lack of guidelines surrounding their nutritional value. Ready meals were not subject to stringent guidelines and so food manufacturers packed them full of flavour using high levels of fat and salt. Obligatory food labelling was limited to ingredients and was not required to detail the amount of salt, fat, protein or calories. Aside from this, people werent generally food or label savvy and there wasnt the hype about them that there is now.
Some changes have happened in recent years, the big three are traffic light food labelling, strict guidelines on levels of salt and saturated fat (particularly in ready meals aimed at children) and increased consumer awareness. All these things are really positive and should mean that people are healthier and obesity levels are dropping. Unfortunately, this doesnt seem to follow and according to the National Heart Forum, the occurrence of obesity-related strokes is set to rise by 23 per cent by 2050.
So what was the fuss about and has anything changed? Lots of things and yes. Ready meals were slammed for serving up unhealthy and unbalanced food to the general public and packaging it up to be not just convenient but family friendly too. Rumblings about the alarming rise in obesity and associated illnesses such as high blood pressure, heart attacks and diabetes started to be heard from those in the medical profession and the convenience critic was born. It seemed as though the countrys obesity problem was no coincidence, as peoples lives got busier and busier and both mum and dad started to work full time, food that required little to no preparation and minimal cooking time became attractive, very attractive.
This in itself was not the problem; the problem was the content of these convenience foods and the lack of guidelines surrounding their nutritional value. Ready meals were not subject to stringent guidelines and so food manufacturers packed them full of flavour using high levels of fat and salt. Obligatory food labelling was limited to ingredients and was not required to detail the amount of salt, fat, protein or calories. Aside from this, people werent generally food or label savvy and there wasnt the hype about them that there is now.
Some changes have happened in recent years, the big three are traffic light food labelling, strict guidelines on levels of salt and saturated fat (particularly in ready meals aimed at children) and increased consumer awareness. All these things are really positive and should mean that people are healthier and obesity levels are dropping. Unfortunately, this doesnt seem to follow and according to the National Heart Forum, the occurrence of obesity-related strokes is set to rise by 23 per cent by 2050.
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