There are calls for the voluntary front-of-pack Health Star Ratings to become mandatory after a new report from The George Institute for Global Health reveals the Australian food industry has not met targets.
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UK sugar tax hits sweet spot, so why is Australia waiting?
In a paper published in the British Medical Journal, UK researchers have shown that one year after the British Government imposed a levy on sugar sweetened beverages (or SSBs), people are buying less sugar, but industry’s bottom line remains largely unscathed – described as a ‘win-win’ outcome.
In an editorial accompanying this paper, The George Institute’s Dr Alexandra Jones proposes that there are lessons to be learned by other countries, including Australia:
Here, an SSB tax has been sidelined by a voluntary pledge by the Australian Beverage Council to reduce sugar sold in beverages by 20 percent over a decade, but the terms of the pledge are vague, it doesn’t cover all products and will not be independently reviewed.