Welfare cuts ‘will see poor buying unhealthy food’

SOCIAL welfare and child benefit cuts in the budget will see poorer people buying cheap, unhealthy food and developing long-term health problems, a group campaigning for healthy eating for low-income groups has claimed.

All-Ireland group, Healthy Food for All, is concerned that welfare cuts recommended in the McCarthy report will put a healthy diet even further beyond the reach of poorer people.

The campaign group highlighted research by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland which found it was 10 times cheaper to get the same number of calories from foods high in fat, salt and sugar than from healthy foods.