Sugar Reduction in the News
March 6, 2019 - Beverages containing sugar have been seen as one of the causes of the obesity epidemic. Governments have been taxing beverages as a way to reduce this. Depending on how the regulations are written, companies have been adding grape juice as a sweetener to reduce the tax impact on their products. This has happened in England which has resulted in quite a few products losing kosher certification. Som municipalities in the US are or thinking about taxing sugar sweetened beverages.
- February 26, 2019 - City Council weighs bills to label sugary menu items
A New York City Council bill "would require restaurants with seating areas to post a sign on the risks of sugar and carbohydrates for people with diabetes and prediabetes; make nutritional beverages, such as water and nonfat milk, the default drink options for kids' meals at chain restaurants; and add an icon on chains' menus to flag items with more than 12 grams of added sugar." "Restaurants violating the menu and signage rules would be subject to fines."
"Displaying the sugar icons could present problems because the federal government requires disclosure of total sugar, not added sugar, on menu items."
- Feb. 25, 2019 - How effective are soda taxes in reducing consumption of sugary drinks?:
- "A new study on the efficacy of soda taxes and their role in the reduction of sugary beverage consumption was published last week in the American Journal of Public Health."
- "The study used five years of data collected from Berkeley, California, the first U.S. city to tax those drinks, and found a 52% decrease in soda consumption in the first three years since the tax was implemented." However the cities around Berkeley also had soda taxes.
- "Other researchers are conducting similar studies in cities like Philadelphia, which also levied soda taxes. Their findings show that while taxes are effective in reducing consumption, they also drive consumers far and wide in the search for non-taxed sugary beverages."
