Ultra-processed foods now make up at least half of all food sold in UK supermarkets. The Lancet has described them as a “corporate-engineered public health crisis.” That is exactly what they are: industrial products designed for profit, not nutrition. They override appetite control, promote over-consumption, and push out real food alternatives.

These foods are cheap because wages are low, access to fresh food is unequal, and corporate concentration has eliminated choice. The result is a society burdened with obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancers — and an NHS stretched to breaking point. None of this is accidental.

In this video, I explain how ultra-processed food became unavoidable, why it is a systemic economic issue rather than a personal failure, and what the government can do now: from food labelling and advertising bans to taxing ultra-processed products and subsidising real food. We can change this — but only if we confront corporate power.

John Interviews Tamsen Webster