Overweight, obesity and the food service industry

Abstract

In many countries people are eating out more often and the food service industry has encouraged/reacted to this with business activities such as ‘super-sizing’, product bundling and ‘all you can eat buffets’. At the same time, the incidence of overweight and obesity has increased throughout the world and the food service industry has been implicated if not blamed entirely for this situation. However, is the food service industry rightly condemned as the obesity villain? This article considers some of the factors in the obesity debate and concludes that it is not a ‘one-way street’ and both the food service industry and consumer alike bear responsibility for the current situation.