The Food Standards agency in Scotland is calling for action in a bid to cut obesity rates as they believe that portion control has been lost due to the ‘more-for-less’ culture.

Despite rising costs, we consumers are looking to stretch the pounds in our pocket for bigger meals and large portions sizes are top of the list.

Scotland’s food watchdog believes that calorie labelling, smaller portion sizes and better quality healthy alternatives should be available to everyone who dines out.

A survey undertaken by the agency found that 61% of Scots admitted to needing to improve their diet, which rose by 10% on the previous year.

Scotland is suffering from an obesity crisis, with the FSS stating that the problem was costing the Scottish economy an estimated £2.37bn a year.

FSS chairman Ross Finnie said: “There has been some concrete progress over the past year from Food Standards Scotland, government and industry to address the deep-seated problems with Scotland’s diet, and there have been some positive steps in the right direction.

“However, given we’ve been missing our dietary goals in Scotland since these were first set more than 20 years ago, it’s clear that moves towards improving Scotland’s diet need to be more rapid, more robust and more effective.”

Mr Finnie said food consumed outside the home had a “vital role to play” in helping Scots be healthier.

He added: “In our view, regulation would create a level playing field for industry, and without it, we face the very real prospect of increasing diet-related ill health and unsustainable burdens on the NHS and our economy.”

Of course as with all types of food, everything should be consumed in moderation, but does that mean that we as business owners should be changing our policies, prices and portion sizes to account for the health of our customers?

Is obesity the concern of food business owners? The customer knows best after all, who are we to say what or how much they should be eating?