Health Ministry considers sugar tax

CHIEF Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram says the Health Ministry is considering a sugar tax in its efforts to combat childhood obesity.

He was speaking on Wednesday as Health Ministry and Education Ministry officials appeared before the Joint Select Committee (JSC) on Social Services and Public Administration at the Parliament building, Port of Spain.

JSC chairman Paul Richards said in developed countries there has been a strong lobby by parents' and teachers' groups to deal with the super-size syndrome and the over-sugar-saturated syndrome.

"Because you can exercise all you want: if you are consuming 700, 1,200 calories in sugar juices which are cheaper and placed in retail outlets where you are exiting and you can grab it. it is going to be part of the component."

He asked what is being done to combat this situation. Parasram said the ministry is looking into a sugar tax.

"When you look into the disparity, the cost of eating unhealthy foods is actually cheaper than eating healthy foods and more convenient."

He said in other territories, including the UK, a sugar tax has been imposed so a sugar-sweetened drink will become more expensive than a natural drink. He added the tax will be based on the proportional amount of added sugar.

Richards said it was something the ministry "would get a lot of pushback for."

Parasram said the ministry was working the figures to see what it would look like in TT and added that implementation would be difficult as there are local manufacturers.

"We have to do a lot of stakeholder consultation."

JSC member Christine Newallo-Hosein said there is a global thrust to reduce sugar usage and soon local manufacturers would not be able to penetrate international markets without lowering sugar content. She asked if the ministry had considered an incentive to manufacturers to produce healthier drinks. Parasram recalled with the ban on sugar-sweetened beverages in schools, manufacturers dropped sugar content on their own.

"If they could not comply they would not be able to sell."

He added the ministry could look into incentives as well.

Richards stressed the importance of monitoring and ensuring what is in the product matches what is on the label. He said forward-thinking countries test products and impose severe fines for breaches.

"So let's not pretend – the reason the sugar is there is because it is addictive. The manufacturers know that – I am not demonising the private sector – the more sugar you put, the more likely the child will ask for that particular product. And it also goes...with salt content in fast foods, which leads to cardiovascular problems later on. The more salt you put, the more addictive it becomes.

"So let it us not think this is a benign component of the foods that are offered for sale. It is business at the expense, in many instances, of the health and well-being of our young people and our population at large."

Parasram said the lab at the Chemistry Food and Drug Division was still not operating, but was due to be back up in the first half of this year. He said in the interim, testing was being outsourced to Cariri.

Parasram recalled at a JSC hearing in December 2016 a ban on sugar-sweetened beverages and unhealthy snacks at schools was recommended, as well as the development of programmes to educate parents on the promotion of a healthy lifestyle. He recalled in September 2017 the ban on sugar-sweetened beverages was fully implemented in schools and the ministry was 90 per cent complete with the ban on unhealthy snacks to be implemented in September 2019. He reported the development of programmes to educate parents began in the first quarter of 2017 and has continued.

Parasram said after September 2017 the ministry looked at compliance among schools. In 2018 there was a little improvement with compliance at primary schools, with 99 per cent for soft drinks, 84 per cent for juice drinks, 99 per cent for sports and energy drinks, and 94 per cent for flavoured waters. For secondary schools in 2018 it was 97 per cent for soft drinks, 74 per cent for juice drinks, 94 per cent for sports and energy drinks and 83 per cent for flavoured waters. The only increase in compliance was for juice drinks.

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"Health Ministry considers sugar tax"

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