The FSA will recommend that food makers only use celebrities, characters and cartoons to encourage children to eat healthier foods, and for companies considering licensing characters to promote foods only to do so with products that meet healthy nutritional criteria.
The FSA made the recommendations in an action plan addressing the way foods are promoted to children. It outlines a timetable and a range of initiatives to tackle the problem of childhood obesity.
While the current action plan falls short of calling for a ban on celebrities, such as Gary Lineker, who has been widely criticised for promoting Walkers Crisps, it does hint at the introduction of restrictions, saying that action should be taken to address the imbalance in TV advertising of food to children.
In a statement, the FSA said that the government and media regulator Ofcom should note that "action on relative amounts of advertising for foods, meals or snacks high in fat, sugar or salt and for healthier foods, and the times at which these adverts are scheduled, is likely to be the most effective option to address the imbalance".
Sir John Krebs, chair of the FSA, said: "Parents want to give their children healthier diets and it is not always clear what the healthy choice may be at the supermarket, in a restaurant or at school. And there is a clear imbalance of television advertising of foods to children."
Other recommendations are: improving school meals and how to promote uptake of healthier options; nutritional criteria for the food industry to reduce levels of fat, sugar and salt in foods aimed at children; and best practice advice on how unhealthy products can be flagged up.
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