Day 032 - 06 Oct 94 - Page 11
1 obviously sweet or fatty foods, they are, nonetheless,
2 eating as much sugar and fat as ever they did because this
3 is coming back to them in other forms in their diet.
4
5 Q. In your experience, is the fastfood industry a fairly new
6 phenomenon as it is today?
7 A. Well, it is clearly a post-war phenomenon in a sense,
8 but in another you could argue that fastfoods of a certain
9 sort have been available for centuries, I would imagine.
10 The traditions of fish and chip shops, and so on, go back
11 to the beginning of this century and before; the pie man
12 and others walking the Victorian streets. So, fastfood in
13 a sense has been with us for some time. I would argue
14 that the prevalence of sales' outlets of fastfood have
15 probably increased and the quantity of fastfood as a
16 proportion of the total diet has increased.
17
18 Q. Does this have an effect on the dietary habits of the
19 population?
20 A. Obviously, if fastfoods are taking a larger part of
21 the diet than they have before, then, yes, this would have
22 an impact, particularly if they are replacing foods with a
23 different nutritional quality.
24
25 Q. This rise of, you might call it modern fastfood
26 consumption, has that been as a result of promotional
27 activities by those companies?
28 A. It is a complex interrelationship between demand and
29 promotion, but I would say particularly a few years ago,
30 when I was involved mostly in writing about fastfood, we
31 were at that stage, the mid-1980s, quite concerned at the
32 amount by which the promotion of fastfood had increased in
33 the previous few years.
34
35 We had figures indicating that -- the promotion by
36 McDonald's, for example, had risen from about £2.5 million
37 a year in 1981 to 1982 through to over £10 million a year
38 by 1986/7; whereas its nearest rival was spending similar
39 amounts, £2.5 million odd in 1982, was continuing to spend
40 that level, £2.5 million by 1986/7. So there were large
41 sums being spent, but those sums were increasing, in
42 particular, by McDonald's company.
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You said pounds -- those are UK figures?
45 A. Those are UK figures.
46
47 MR. MORRIS: Talking about the 80s, would you say that the
48 promotion of this kind of food was rising all the time?
49 A. There was considerable concern, I would say, amongst
50 food people, food experts and food policy makers, and
51 other health makers. There was, indeed, considerable
52 concern at what appeared to be a massive rise in the
53 prevalence of high street facilities on fastfood and the
54 promotion of fastfood through the media.
55
56 In particular, there was concern about the promotion of
57 fastfood towards children whose nutritional habits were
58 being set in childhood and here was promotion to just that
59 target group. There was great concern rising during the
60 80s at what appeared to be a fairly massive campaign at
