Jamie Oliver presents plans for tackling obesity crisis

Britain is facing a "new kind of poverty" with many parents unable to nourish their own families because they lack knowledge, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has said. Giving evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into health inequalities, Oliver warned of an "incredibly profound" health crisis caused by poor nutrition. Oliver has called for controls on the fast food industry to counter the commercial influences pushing people to eat unhealthily. He told the House of Commons Health Committee that the £650 million provided by Government to improve school dinners was welcome but "nowhere near a dramatic enough amount of money". "The health crisis that we are in and what we choose to do in the next ten years is so incredibly profound," he said. "In this fifth-richest country in the world there is a new poverty that I have never seen before. "This isn't about fresh trainers or mobile phones or Sky dishes or plasma TV screens - they've got all that. It is a poverty of being able to nourish their family, in any class. "It directly runs with the outrageous obesity that is happening now and it is getting worse and worse." Oliver, whose School Dinners and Ministry of Food TV series have seen him campaign for better food in schools, homes and the workplace, said that lack of knowledge about cooking had an "exponential" impact on the nation's health. He is optimistic of the chances of improving the nation's eating habits with projects like the "pass it on" message from his Ministry of Food series, which encouraged people to share healthy recipes.

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ITN | November 5, 2008

Tags:. .richest. .inequalities. .commercial. .celebrity. .food