Sugar content to be slashed by 20 percent by 2025, Australia’s top drinks companies pledge

26 Jun 2018 --- The Australian Beverages Council has called for the industry to cut sugar content by 10 percent by 2020 and by another 10 percent five years later, in a bid to tackle Australia’s obesity epidemic. The country’s biggest soft drink manufactures, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, have vowed to abide to the call.

More than 80 percent of the country’s non-alcoholic beverage companies have signed up to the agreement, including energy drink maker Frucor Suntory and Asahi Beverage, which owns Schweppes. The move will affect carbonated soft drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks, fruit drinks and more.

The industry's pledge is to reduce the level of sugar content per 100 milliliters of product sold, not necessarily an absolute reduction in the use of sugar. The companies will still be able to supply their full sugar ranges on the market.

The reformulations will not push up the price of drinks for consumers, and an independent auditor will assess the industry’s progress, Geoff Parker, Australian Beverages Council Chief Executive told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Australian Medical Association President Tony Bartone has criticized the move as not being strong enough. He was quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald as saying the reduction in sugar was, “welcome, but a drop in the ocean when it came to reducing Australians' sugar consumption.” 

He continues: “In some sweet and sugary beverages there is just an enormous amount of sugar and even a 20 percent drop isn’t really significant in addressing the underlying problem.”

In order to really address the obesity issue, Bartone continues, a sugar tax could be called in.

The introduction of a sugar tax, similar to the UK soft drinks industry levy introduced on 6 April 2018, has been a hot topic in Australia. The implementation of such a tax is backed by the Greens in Australia, but opposed by the two other major political parties.

Parker states that there is a “distinct lack of credible evidence to suggest such taxes achieve their intended outcome of reducing obesity” and that tackling the obesity problem demands a strategic, multifaceted approach.

“The beverages industry has already taken action to reduce sugar from beverages, in the absence of a discriminatory and regressive tax. Many of our members have reformulated a range of products to reduce sugar content while introducing smaller pack sizes and promoting responsible consumption,” says Parker.

“Using the taxation system to fix diet-related disease is illogical and we know that it will not achieve its ultimate goal. The only certain aspects of a sugar tax are that it will hurt consumers and cause irreversible economic and social damage to communities across the country which benefit from the non-alcoholic beverages industry,” concludes Mr. Parker.

How other countries use measures to tackle obesity
The UK recently introduced a sugar tax on sugary drinks, with countries such as Mexico and France following suit. The UK’s sugar tax pushes up the price of sugar-sweetened soft drinks across Britain. It has two tiers; a lower rate of 18 pence per liter for beverages with a total sugar content between 5-8g per 100ml and a higher price of 24 pence per liter for drinks with total sugar more than 8g per 100ml.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May introduced the levy as part of the Childhood Obesity Strategy in a bid to change the consumption habits of children across the country. Excessive sugar consumption, much of which comes from soft drinks, is often blamed for the crisis.

However, some observers claim that due to the aggressive reformulations that have already taken place within the soft drink sector, revenues collected as a result of the additional tax may not be as high as first anticipated. 

The sugar tax recently made its way back into the headlines after a report from an independent panel advising the World Health Organization (WHO) did not endorse sugar taxes on soft drinks as a way of cutting obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) globally. Despite a 2016 recommendation from WHO that the Government should impose a 20 percent sugar tax, the move was not included due to “conflicting views.”

Furthermore, this week the UK government announced additional new measures aimed at halving childhood obesity rates by 2030. The measures included efforts to prevent stores from displaying unhealthy food at checkouts and to ban the sale of caffeine-laden energy drinks to children. 

The new proposals include calls on industry to “recognize the harm that adverts for foods high in fat, sugar and salt can cause.” The UK Department of Health and Social Care announced it would consult on introducing new TV and online advertising restrictions to prevent children from being targeted by unhealthy products and to incentivize companies to reduce the sugar and calories in the products they sell. Industry responses varied from welcoming to critical.

By Laxmi Haigh