Being around cake in the office is akin to passive smoking in terms of the harm it can cause according to Food Standards Agency (FSA) Chairwoman, Susan Jebb. She is also a Professor of Diet and Population Health at the University of Oxford. She believes that staff have to engage an extraordinary amount of willpower to not give in and tuck in when people bring treats into the office and that various, who otherwise wouldn’t eat them, end up succumbing. She compared this to people having no choice but to be exposed to passive smoking when people around them smoke. Stuart Rose, the former Chairman at Marks & Spencer and current Chairman of Asda, has come out in support of the FSA for promoting healthier eating habits at work. He believes that companies have a “legal obligation to do something about our employees’ health”. He too believes that employees should have less access to unhealthy food within the workplace. A total of £72 billion is being spent every year in the UK for excess weight and obesity, according to a report conducted last summer by The Food Foundation.  This figure is derived from NHS costs, lost productivity at work and reduced life expectancy. It’s certainly food for thought.