Ruin our summer plans, ransack our savings, crash the economy if you must, but, pandemic, don’t you dare come for our Percy Pigs. As if this year could get any worse, now 2020 is threatening to cancel one of the few pleasures we have left: the bag of sweets we scoff on every train journey/birthday/Saturday night.
But now, the government's obesity campaign National Food Strategy has accused Percy Pig’s packaging of being ‘wilfully misleading’, pointing the finger at Marks & Spencer. This comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled measures to get the nation to slim down as part of his new anti-obesity plan.
Well, on hearing this the internet went into meltdown: there was anger, sadness and a stream of outraged tweets, leading to the man, I mean pig, himself trending on social media.
Putting calories on menus is one thing, but take away Percy Pig and what do we have left? Let’s hope Colin the Caterpillar cake has been securely rushed to a safe house.
At the launch of his National Food Strategy, restaurateur Henry Dimbleby said of the packaging: ‘I just think that is not right. I think that is genuinely misleading,' the Guardian reported.
The strategy report says: ‘One of the most egregious sins of the modern food industry is its habit of clothing itself, and its products, in false virtue … “No artificial colours or artificial flavourings” trills the packaging for Percy Pig, the “soft gums made with fruit juice”… How many parents take the time to check the ingredients list? If they did, they might (assuming they know how ingredient lists work) be agog to find that the three largest ingredients by weight are glucose syrup, sugar and glucose-fructose-syrup.'
Of course it’s wise to get the country healthy at a time when our health service is under pressure trying to battle a pandemic, but Percy Pig are sweets! We’re not accidentally eating them thinking they’re one of our five a day. We KNOW the jaw ache we get after gobbling a bag in five minutes flat is our tooth decaying and crumbling away.
One Twitter user, Trevor Callaghan, wrote: ‘I just want to be clear that I never been misled by a bag of Percy Pigs. I knew what I was getting into. I'm kind of disappointed there are only four forms of sugar in them.’
Another, Bethany Walker, tweeted: ‘I swear to god if 2020 cancels Percy Pigs I'm leaving earth. I KNOW there's a ton of sugar in them THAT'S WHY I BUY THEM!’
According to The Guardian, an M&S spokesperson said: ‘All our products have clear labelling so that customers can make informed choices about what they buy. All our Percy Pigs are made with natural fruit juices and no artificial colours or flavourings and last year we also introduced a range of Percy Pigs with one third less sugar.’
The nation has spoken: we won’t allow Percy Pig to become a pandemic casualty. Anyway, all this has made me hungry. Pass the pigs will you?
READ MORE: The Internet Is Obsessed with Rishi Sunak's Accidentally Very Rude New Slogan...
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