Calls to BAN meal deals in Tesco, M&S, ASDA, Boots, Sainsbury's and Morrisons

Calls have been made to ban popular meal deals in supermarkets like Tesco, M&S, Sainsbury's, ASDA and Morrisons. Experts also want them removed from shelves in petrol stations and places like Boots.

An expert from HSE says the meals should be made 'illegal' in the country's current obesity crisis. Speaking on The Pat Kenny Show on Wednesday, Dr. O'Shea, the HSE's clinical lead, said these deals almost always include solely unhealthy food options and therefore should be banned. "Literally, that should be illegal," he said.

He continued: "The industry has the statistics and they know how to prompt and promote consumption, And 70% of people will say no the first time, but if the person behind the counter says 'well are you sure, it's a good offer'. Then another 30% will say 'ah yeah, go on'.

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"They are actually trained because the industry has the stats and they know how to prompt and they know how to promote consumption. We just have to be super aware of that and try to resist it. Those buy one get one free offers are always around the high fat, high salt, high sugar stuff, never around fruit.”

Earlier this month the World Health Organisation (WHO) released a major report that revealed obesity is responsible for 200,000 cancer cases and 1.2 million deaths a year in Europe.

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The report said: "Alarmingly, there have been consistent increases in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the WHO European region and no member state is on track to reach the target of halting the rise in obesity by 2025. Across the WHO European region, obesity is likely to be