The Junk Free Checkout campaign

Ruari Barratt looks at the action being taken to get rid of supermarket ‘guilt lanes’

Shoppers are being urged to hand in ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ cards at supermarket tills, grading the support they feel they have received in resisting sugary snacks by the checkout.

Junk Free Checkouts, a new campaign by the British Dietetic Association and the Children’s Food Campaign, also encourages consumers to name and shame, post pictures and ‘conduct their own audits’, with the aim of forcing retailers to display only healthy snacks near the tills.

The BDA sites a recent survey in which 8 in 10 shoppers complained about so-called ‘guilt lanes’. They say it’s difficult enough avoiding the aisles dedicated to junk food, but tougher still to resist the sugary temptation of the checkout queue. Asda and Morrisons were named as the worst offenders, with Waitrose and Budgens the least to blame.

While it’s hard not to sympathise with the 64% of respondents who shop with their children (we’ve all witnessed the explosive horror of the till-side tantrum), it’s worth bearing in mind that the survey was conducted not amongst a random selection of the public, but on Slimming World’s member website. Perhaps all the 8 in 10 statistic does is call into question the other 2 in 10’s dedication to slimming.

But let’s give the BDA the benefit of the doubt. Let’s assume the survey is indicative of popular opinion and we’ve all had enough of being tricked by food retailers into making ourselves overweight, diabetic and, more at risk of heart disease and other illnesses linked to being overweight. Do we have a right to be outraged?

Anna Soubry, public health minister and outspoken critic of fun (previous targets include cigarettes and lemon meringue pie) said earlier this year in a similar, government-backed, push against checkout sugar tactics: “Retailers should make it easier for us to make the right choices, not harder.”

But is it really the retailer’s responsibility to help us stay off the Percy Pigs? In the same survey, two-thirds said they felt strongly enough to complain, but fewer than 4% had actually done so. Indicative, perhaps, of the same lack of grit that made them want to complain in the first place.

Who exactly is passing or failing here?

‘Pass’ and ‘fail’ cards, along with a template letter of complaint, downloadable audit form and numerous other items of a similar nature can be found at www.junkfreecheckouts.org