ABSTRACT
How to improve children's diets is one of the most pressing food policy questions of the our times, in the United Kingdom and internationally. Where children's diets were previously mediated by their families and by the state, children play an increasingly direct part in the food economy. This chapter asks how food companies might be held more responsible for their commercial relationships with children. Nonetheless, the question of whether children's diets are bad but improving, or are actually deteriorating, is important in identifying the social causes of dietary ill health, and working out effective strategies for addressing them. Where previously children's diets were mediated by their families and by the state, children now play an increasingly direct part in the food economy. It briefly reviews some of the ethical issues raised by the commercialisation of children's diets. The chapter identifies nine questions that warrant further work and discussion.
