- UK supermarket giant Tesco has halved the sugar content in its own-brand drinks.
- Tesco customers now consume “20 per cent less sugar” from soft drinks compared to 2011.
- Imagine what we could achieve with a sugar tax in Australia!
Results! Tesco has become the first supermarket chain to drastically reduce the sugar content in its own-brand drinks, ahead of the UK sugar tax in 2018.
The company has reformulated all of its 251 drinks, with many halving the sugar content. 50 products now have less than 5g of sugar per 100ml, falling under the threshold for the sugar levy.
According to Tesco chief executive Matt Davies, Tesco customers now consume “20 per cent less sugar” from their own-brand soft drinks, compared to figures from 2011.
While Tesco has declined to say if they have replaced the sugar with artificial sweeteners (we really hope not), the UK Government has praised the supermarket for “leading the field”.
“It is proof that taking added sugar out of drinks is both possible and in line with what customers want,” said public health minister Nicola Blackwood.
All this leads us to imagine what could be achieved if a sugary drinks tax was implemented in Australia. Yesterday, the Australian Medical Association strongly advocated a sugary drinks tax to battle Australia’s biggest health threat, obesity.
“The next step must be a comprehensive obesity strategy. The strategy must include a sugar tax [and] stronger controls of junk food advertising, especially to children,” an AMA spokesperson told IQS.
Want to get the message out there? The AMA recommends writing to your minister for health to convey your concerns and urge action to be taken. Let’s do this!
Do you support more supermarkets giving sugar the chop?
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