Should fast food outlets be forced to put tobacco-style health warnings on their packaging?

That's one controversial and extreme measure being proposed by an Australian healthy food advocate, as he ramps up his campaign to change the way fast food outlets advertise to children.

Aaron Schultz – founder of the Game Changer movement to get rid of unhealthy food ads in sport – says consumers have the right to more detailed information about what goes into the fast food they buy, and the effect it can have on their health.

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Health food campaigner Aaron Schultz wants to get people fired up about labelling on fast food

Mr Schultz - a father of two from Tasmania - with his sons Sam (left), 14 and Jed (right), 10

'We're heading down the wrong path at a rapid rate. Certainly food labelling is a key step to people making informed decisions on what they're eating,' Mr Schultz said.

'We don't have the capacity for people to make informed decisions because there's no labelling.

'Certainly if you look at, say, a piece of fried chicken you would find that there would be a lot more than the chicken and the nine herbs and spices associated with that.'

Mr Schultz posted an image of a Big Mac box labelled with the words 'BIG MACS MAKE BIG CHILDREN' and a picture of two overweight kids to his Game Changer Facebook page in an attempt to fire up debate.

'Just like a cigarette packet demonstrates the causes of cigarette smoking and its damages, this image demonstrates what the fast food product can do to the human body,' he said.

Mr Schultz has also run campaigns to change the way fast food outlets can advertise at sports matches

The most recent ABS statistics show that one-quarter of all Australian children aged 5-17 are overweight or obese.

Mr Schultz said plain packaging was an eventual goal, but as a first step he wants to see detailed ingredients lists included on fast food packaging and information about where the food has come from and if it has been treated with chemicals or growth hormones.

'Later on [plain packing] can come. Ingredients have to be explained as a first step,' he said.

Mr Schultz, a father of two from Tasmania, first got involved in health food campaigning as a concerned parent trying to limit fast food marketing to his kids at sports matches.

'I'm just a normal dad that's got concerns about unhealthy products being pushed to my children,' he said.

'They can't go to a game of sport without being influenced to consume unhealthy products.

'My main focus is to get unhealthy advertising out of sport but it's grown a lot more to address things at a greater level.'

He wants to see detailed ingredients lists on fast food packaging, including where ingredients come from

James Paterson, deputy executive director at the Institute of Public Affairs, said consumers have the right to be informed about what goes into their food, but he did not think that governments should force companies to include health warnings.

'The only reason you'd have government impose it is if you believe people are too stupid and they don't know that you shouldn't eat junk food all the time,' he said.

'If you're the sort of person who already ignores advice about what's healthy and what's unhealthy then a warning label is not going to help you improve your diet, you've already made bad choices.'

He added that it is unclear whether plain packaging is effective.

'Rates of smoking have fallen, but shortly after plain packaging was introduced there was really substantial increase on the tax on cigarettes,' he said.

'It's not clear if the people who stopped smoking have done it because of plain packaging or the price increase.'