It takes a lot to shake a Big Food company.
Trust us, after years of campaigning against the ridiculous levels of sugar in everyday foods, it’s a lot like talking to a brick wall (although we have had our share of campaign successes, too!).
So you can imagine our delight recently when, one after the other, massive corporations announced they were actually going to reduce sugar in their products. There’s only one reason for it: with the UK confirming they will be going ahead with a sugar tax, everyone is racing to get under the tax threshold.
And we’re pretty chuffed! A study has already predicted that reducing the sugar in drinks could prevent up to 300,000 new cases of type 2 diabetes in the UK. Here are just five companies (finally) making the change.
1. All of the soft drinks.
Pepsi will reformulate its drinks to have less than 100 calories from added sugar per serve, by 2025. Likewise, Suntory (maker of Ribena and Lucozade), promises to reduce sugar by 10 per cent before 2018, and 20 per cent by 2025 or sooner.
Strangely, Coca-Cola hasn’t announced plans to reduce sugar, despite predictions that the soda giant would pay up to 52 per cent of the tax. They are focussing a lot on their artificially sweetened drinks, however – we just hope other Big Soda companies don’t replace the sugar with these chemicals.
2. Nestlé.
Somehow Nestlé has figured out a way to “structure sugar differently” so it tastes sweeter. That way, it can reduce the sugar in their products by up to 40 per cent! That’s beyond Action On Sugar’s 30 per cent goal. But while we appreciate the effort, it’s still not a good enough reason to buy from Nestlé.
3. Tesco.
Tesco is the first UK supermarket chain to drastically reduce the sugar content in its all of its own-brand drinks. 50 products now have less than 5g of sugar per 100ml, falling under the sugar tax threshold. Supermarket rival Waitrose have also cut the sugar in their own-brand cereals.
4. Christmas coffees.
Last year, Starbucks and other companies got into hot water over festive drinks that contained up to 23 teaspoons of sugar. In 2016, the menu is a lot less sugary, with some worst drinks even taken off the menu. We know the tax doesn’t cover milk beverages (yet), but it looks like they’re prepared!
5. Kellogg’s.
Kellogg’s has pledged to cut 723 tons of sugar from all its cereals next year, including the “cereal” offenders Frosties and Coco Pops. We love that the message is getting around… now it’s just time for Australia to take up the mantle, no?
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