Children pushed to eat junk food over holidays by UK government campaign

Foods such as chicken nuggets and pizza, rather than fruit and vegetables, dominate kids’ summer menus. Photograph: Tom Viggars/Alamy

Struggling families are being encouraged by the government to feed their children on discounted supermarket cafe menus comprising ultra-processed junk food over the summer holidays, experts have claimed.

The government’s Help for Households campaign last week urged families hit by the cost of the living crisis to take advantage of new or existing supermarket meal deals, including a “kids eat for £1” offer in Asda and “kids eat free” with an adult paying customer in Morrisons.