An influential health watchdog has called for major changes in food production and said drastic cuts in fat and salt levels were needed to halt more deaths from heart disease.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) said that trans fats, which prolong shelf life, should be banned from all food, saturated fat levels should be cut drastically and the average salt intake more than halved by 2025.
NICE said 40,000 deaths could be prevented each year in the UK.
Mike Kelly, NICE's director for public health, said the financial costs of heart disease added up to around £30bn per year and the organisation has asked the government to draw up new health policy guidelines.
It said the government should aim to reduce average adult salt intake to 3 grams a day by 2025 - from around 8.5 grams now.
It also urged the government to tighten planning laws to stop fast-food outlets setting up too close to schools, and said legislation should be considered to force the food industry to cut saturated fat levels if they would not do so voluntarily.
Professor Simon Capewell, NICE’s vice chairman, who is a public health physician in Liverpool, said: "Everyone has the idea that prevention is worthy, but takes decades to be fulfilled.
"We were pleasantly surprised when we looked into this. We found evidence from Poland, the Czech Republic and Cuba that changes in diet can lead to results with improved health in two to three years."
He added: "The targets on salt might seem quite challenging - but we're only calling for a 6% reduction each year. It's not like we want this done by Friday.
"The amount of salt in bread has already gone down by 40% in the past five years, thanks to a voluntary agreement with industry.”
