Are foods such as no-calorie noodles from Japan the answer? The Times correspondent, Helen Rumbelow, doesn't think so, although they are popular in the US. Made from the Devil's Tongue plant, they need to be slathered in a strong-tasting sauce to mask the smell of old clothes. Worse: inside the pouch they "look like a hospital sample of tapeworms".
No, I still believe that a better approach is to choose smaller portions of normal food that is a pleasure to eat rather than endure a yuk-filled ordeal. It is a pity some food manufacturers are being criticised in the media for putting less into their packs and charging the same price. Although reducing portion sizes to reduce calorific intake wasn't the principle objective, as far as the end-consumer is concerned this could be a better solution for cutting calories than a government tax on such foods.
In either case, consumers would pay more per gram, but if the pack size remains the same, willpower would be required to reduce the amount actually eaten. But if, say, there are only 10 items in a pack where once there were 12, to take a hypothetical example, the consumer is automatically rationed to the amount available and the number of calories eaten would be reduced by around 17% compared with the larger pack. For a high- calorie food this could go some way towards reducing daily intake by an average of 100 calories a day per person the government's goal.
A small pack approach is being used by one major retailer in a new range of multi-packs of biscuits and snacks, where each item in the pack has around 100 calories a lot less than half of a standard packet shared between two people, where you feel you have to eat the whole pack, rather than leave the contents to go soggy.
A similar argumentation can be used in the case of foods containing more water. Lower fat foods designed as such often contain more water weight for weight than the traditional equivalents. This results if water is added to food such as reduced fat spreads or if fat is taken out, as with semi-skimmed milk.
Whatever approach is adopted, consumer choice is paramount. Provided sufficient information is given, there are no grounds for government intervention with the food industry. If a pack contains less than it once did, the consumer can judge whether it still represents value for money before deciding whether to buy it.