Clearly children's diets need attention, and there have been a number of initiatives to
break the unhealthy eating habit, including: The National Healthy Schools Programme (1998 to 2009), which included healthy and nutritious foods being made available in school canteens and vending machines; The School Food Plan, (
launched in 2015), which provided a new set of standards for all food served in schools, offering children more healthy, balanced diets, and withdrawing the provision of unhealthy
snacks and drinks in school vending machines; and the much - publicised new sugar tax, which will be imposed on companies according to the sugar content of the energy and fizzy drinks they produce.