Taylor Vinters - Solicitors

UK dietary interventions by the government are "in the social interest", according to a leading food economist at the University of Reading.

Professor of food economics Bruce Traill is among the researchers carrying out a new €2.5 million (£2.2 million) project to evaluate the success of these interventions throughout the EU.

The new EatWell project is being funded by the EU and will catalogue these member state interventions for the first time.

Professor Traill said: "In the case of the UK, for example, people making poor dietary choices makes the NHS more expensive for everybody.

"We are particularly interested to examine how the private sector's marketing expertise could be effectively adopted by public sector healthy eating campaigns."

Another study carried out by researchers at the University of Reading earlier this month concluded that adapting the agricultural sector in the UK to accommodate government guidelines could have consequences for the countryside.

Professor Traill noted that the impact of the population reducing their dairy and red meat intake, while eating five portions of fruit and vegetables per day will have "potentially unintended consequences".