Some types of porridge, crumpets and breakfast cereals are among the list of products that fall under the new junk food advertising ban.

The government says the law, which applies to both paid online ads and TV ads shown before 21:00, is designed to prevent childhood obesity.

Due to come into force in October 2025, Food placed in the “less healthy” category by the government falls under the ban.And this includes fast food, soft drinks and prepared meals as well as pastries, cereal bars and sweetened yogurt.

Cook and TV presenter Thomasina Mears welcomed the move as “bold” but the ban has prompted criticism from others.

Details of the restrictions reveal that baked goods including crumpets, scones and pancakes are considered junk food under the new law.

Advertisements for sweetened breakfast cereals would also disappear from pre-watershed television screens, with granola, muesli and “porridge oats, including instant oatmeal and other hot oat-based cereals” all classified as “less healthy” foods. Has gone.

The promotion of sweetened yogurt and sugary drinks – including fizzy drinks and some fruit juices – will also be banned.

The government will classify products according to a scoring system based on their sugar, fat and protein content, banning advertising on all foods designated as “less healthy”.

This means that healthier versions of the products – including oatmeal products with no sugar, salt or fat and yogurt products with no added sugar – will not be subject to the ban.

As well as TV advertising, the new law also applies to paid online advertising of these products to reduce children’s exposure to foods high in fat, sugar or salt.

The legislation comes in the context of rising childhood obesity levels in the UK, with NHS data showing that almost one in 10 reception-aged children (9.2%) live with obesity.

NHS figures show that by the age of five one in five children (23.7%) have tooth decay due to high sugar intake.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson A UK-wide ban on TV advertising of food high in sugar, salt and fat before 21:00 was announced in 2021 to help tackle the problem.

The ban was later delayed until 2025, with the Conservative government saying it wanted to give the food and drink industry time to prepare for the change due to the cost of living crisis.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Cook and Ms Mears, co-founder of the Wahaca restaurant chain, welcomed the advertising ban.

“The government is taking very concrete, bold and very courageous action against the big food (companies) that have complete control over our food environment,” he said.

Ms Mears said the ban would ease pressure on taxpayers Research by Professor Tim Jackson The Food Farming and Countryside Commission suggests that food-related chronic disease costs the UK £268 billion a year.

He said: “In Europe we have the worst diets and we know it is causing us extreme pain, discomfort, long-term disease, early death, preventable death. It is bringing the NHS to its knees. “

Ms Mears said “the proposed legislation does not go far enough” and urged the government to do more to tackle poor diets.

The government has said its law will prevent thousands of cases of childhood obesity each year, and is expected to remove 7.2 billion calories a year from the diets of UK children.

But for Prasanna Callaghan, who runs Crumpets Café near Buckingham Palace, the proposed advertising ban on baked goods is “bonkers”.

“The world has gone mad”, he told BBC News, arguing that government legislation should make a clearer distinction between crumpets and more traditional junk foods like fried chicken.

“If you classify crumpets as junk food, that would have a huge impact on my business – basically what they’re saying is: ‘You shouldn’t eat crumpets’, indirectly.”

“It is an old traditional food that has been eaten for years and years”, he said of tawa wali roti.

Meanwhile, mother-of-two Maria McCracken, from Ashford, Kent, said she disagreed with the advertising ban, instead stressing the importance of teaching children to eat a healthy, balanced diet.

Ms McCracken told the BBC that she cooked “a lot of things from scratch” for her children when they were growing up, but added that they also enjoyed “the occasional meal out” together. “There’s nothing wrong with that,” she said.

“It’s about how we raise our children,” Ms McCracken said. He suggested that children should be shown how to cook nutritious food for themselves.

“It should really be within the family, not the government banning anything before nine o’clock,” he said.

The Slimming World adviser also questioned whether a TV advertising ban would effectively combat childhood obesity. “Are (children) influenced by commercials? I don’t think they ever pay attention.”

The government’s impact assessment on the law states that “overall the studies have found a clear association between food advertising and calorie consumption”.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the policy is “the first step towards bringing about a major shift in the focus of health care from disease prevention and delivering our government’s ambition to give every child a healthy, happy start to life.”