Candy makers in the UK may have to stop putting cartoon characters on their sweets. Health groups said food companies use characters from Peppa Pig and Disney on wrappers. The companies do this to get children to buy chocolate and candies. The health groups said 51 per cent of products using cartoon characters were bad for children. The products fell below the requirements needed to advertise on children's TV shows. They were very high in fat, sugar and salt. The groups want the government to ban the use of these characters to sell unhealthy sweets to children.
The groups trying to get the ban are Action on Sugar, Action on Salt and the Children's Food Campaign. They looked at the nutrition in 526 products. The wrapping had colourful cartoon characters to attract children. The Peppa Pig Candy Bites were among the worst products. These were 99 per cent sugar. A nutritionist from the Action on Sugar group, said: "It's shocking that companies are exploiting the health of our children by using cartoon characters on their high-sugar food and drink products, particularly on chocolates and sweets, which are already hard to resist for children."