Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what involvement Ministers of his Department had in the decision by Public Health England to reduce the recommended amount of dairy in the Eatwell guide; for what reasons that change was made; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison

The Government has adopted the refreshed Eatwell Guide, which reflects updated government dietary recommendations based upon conclusions from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, robust modelling and consumer research.

An external reference group informed the development of the Eatwell Guide and representatives from the Department were observer members of this group.

The approach considered the most objective and robust by the reference group to inform the sizes of the food group segments, ensured that all government dietary recommendations were met. This resulted in a new image with a reduced ‘dairy and alternatives’ segment, which will support consumers to reduce saturated fat and salt consumption, while still meeting calcium recommendations.

Ministers agreed to the final version of the Eatwell Guide prior to publication and were briefed during the course of the work.