Takeaway project aims to cut obesity levels

LA Krispy is open to getting help from the council

Fast food restaurants are being encouraged to make their menus healthier in an attempt to improve people's health.

More than 120 takeaways opened in Bradford in the last six months, while nearly 70% of the city's residents are overweight or obese.

A joint project between Bradford Council and the NHS is aiming to address the issue by giving takeaway customers healthier choices.

The scheme is managed by charity Keighley Healthy Living, but targets takeaways from across the Bradford District and has worked with 10 restaurants in its first year.

Project development manager Helen Maguire said her team spoke to 250 fast food customers in Bradford and found 82% would like the food they eat from takeaways to be healthier.

"We're seeing that in Bradford that people are eating from takeaways more than ever and in some cases it's part of their daily diet," she said.

"There is a need for takeaways, especially as people are so busy but then there are concerns over the health implications."

However, she added: "In a lot of cases the food that is available is fast food.

"It's been processed, it's deep fried and that is a concern."

Logistically difficult

Working closely with fast food venues in Manningham is Waj Hussain, who said that takeaways want to be healthier but do not always have enough resources to change their menu completely.

"For me what's working is instead of offering something completely separate, takeaways change the way they work," Mr Hussain said.

"Perhaps looking at some of the oils they use, offering smaller lower calorie alternatives and offering water for free."

The current law means restaurants and takeaways with more than 250 employees need to display calories information on their food helping

"It sounds like a great policy but in Bradford we're full of small businesses who don't have 250 employees," Tim Howells, the city's head of public health, said.

It can also be logistically difficult for small businesses, he said.

Tim Howells, head of public health at Bradford Council, said small changes could make a difference

The project has been running for a year and is contracted to run for three.

"The plan for the second and third year of the contract is to work out what we can do and what we can't do and then roll it out across the district," Mr Howells said.

Takeaways that take part will be given 20 small steps that they can take to make their food healthier, like not adding salt to food when it is cooking.

One new business, LA Krispy, serves fried chicken and fries - but is open to the idea of making their food healthier.

Owner Kasif Khan said: "We're not against healthy food obviously, but the whole concept of our business is based on fried food.

"But if the council were to support us and say we want you to start pushing out healthy food, why not?"

He said it would be good for the community and would create another source of revenue for the business.

"Our chicken is all fresh, it's not processed, it's direct from the butchers.

"So in that sense it is healthy, but it is fried and not grilled."

Mr Khan did also say the main aim for any business is to be profitable.

"We're just trying to get back the money we've invested," he said.

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.