You might have imagined that a flapjack was a fairly innocent item of oat-based confectionery, but apparently it is such a toxic substance that Dame Deirdre Hutton, retiring chairperson of the Food Standards Agency, believes it should be banned. It seems that it is so energy-dense in relation to its size that it is a positive invitation to obesity. She said, “I don’t think that supermarkets should be selling this very energy-driven food. We should be making low-calorie food the norm and anything that is high in fat should be niche.” Presumably she believes we should be more like cattle who have to spend all day chomping away because of the low level of nutrition contained in grass.
She goes on to say “stores should sell 90 per cent healthy food and 10 per cent unhealthy.” Setting aside how that is defined in the first place, surely supermarkets should be selling what their customers want to buy rather than what some Righteous health fascist thinks they should be eating. She probably thinks it would be a good thing too if pubs sold nine soft drinks for every alcoholic one, and is no doubt one of those who harks back to the days of rationing as a laudable public health initiative.