The proposed warning labels will clearly indicate when food is high in sugar, salt and fat or contains artificial sweeteners, but the sugar industry has warned against “demonising sugar”
While a moratorium has been placed on the taxing of sugar, at least for now, The South African Sugar Association (SASA) says it remains concerned about the devastating impact of the Health Promotion Levy (HPL).
It sounds like it’s going to be a familiar story: health campaigners want a sugar tax, the beverage industry doesn’t. But in South Africa there’s an additional dynamic: a massive sugar-growing industry that’s already facing huge challenges. Acknowledging farmers' concerns, the government has told the industry it has two years to readjust, restructure, and come up with a way forward.
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An increase above inflation or cuts to the current threshold would see "6 000 jobs – half being permanent, half being seasonal – lost and 3 000 additional small-scale growers would be at risk of losing their livelihoods".