Budget supermarket Lidl is to remove sweets and chocolate from the checkouts.
The chain’s decision to remove the products from its 600 stores is expected to be welcomed by health groups, as the National Obesity Forum recently estimated that half of the UK population could be obese by the year 2050.
Parents are also expected to be pleased at the move, which will remove any chance of what managing director of Lidl UK Ronny Gottschlich calls “pester power”, while they queue with their children at the checkouts.
He said: “We know how difficult it can be to say no to pester power, so by removing sweets and chocolates from our tills, we can make it easier for parents to reward children in healthier ways.”
This move follows Lidl’s decision last year to introduce a ‘Healthy Till’ in each of its stores, which replaced chocolate and sweets with healthier items such as fresh fruit or multivitamin juice.
Mr Gottschlich added that the store was committed not only to increasing awareness of balanced diets, but also to making it easier for customers to follow them.
