soda tax
Glickman, Veneman: Consider food-stamp ban on sugary drinks
With the recommendation in the new Dietary Guidelines to limit added sugar to 10 percent of daily calories, "consumers now know how much is too much," say former agriculture secretaries Dan Glickman and Ann Veneman. "Congress and USDA should consider whether the limit on added sugar could also inform their thinking about other nutrition programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program."
New Dietary Guidelines endorse lean meat, warn against added sugars
The new edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans will be released today, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. He declined to discuss the contents of the report, which distills the government's advice about healthy diets, or how it would be released.
Panel in Britain backs 20-percent tax on sugary drinks
A report by a select committee of lawmakers in Britain backs a 20-percent tax on sugary drinks as "an essential part of a wider package of measures to tackle childhood obesity," reports the Guardian.
Berkeley is starting point for soda-tax campaign
After winning a referendum in Berkeley in 2014 to institute a soda tax, "public health advocates ... are plotting to bring voter referendums and legislation to tax soda in as many as a dozen U.S. cities in 2016," writes Politico's Helena Evich, who says it's part of a strategy to reduce obesity and chronic diet-related disease.
“America needs a national sugar tax” – Washington Post
In an editorial, the Washington Post advocates a national tax on sugar as the best way to discourage consumption and improve the general health of Americans. Some 16 percent of the calories consumed by Americans daily comes from sugar added to foods during processing, says the Post.
Mexico retreats a bit on soda tax
Lawmakers in Mexico are ready to soften the groundbreaking one-peso-per-liter soda tax that took effect at the beginning of 2014 and is credited with reducing consumption of sugary drinks, says the Guardian. The finance commission in the lower house of Mexico's Congress approved a tax of one-half peso on low-calorie beverages as an incentive to drink companies to offer lower-calorie options.
U.S. won’t mention soda taxes in Dietary Guidelines
The new edition of Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the government's tips for a healthy diet, will not advocate soda taxes as a way to fight obesity, two Obama cabinet members told lawmakers, despite a suggestion that it should from the panel of experts that is helping to update the guidelines. Health Secretary Sylvia Burwell and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said soda taxes fall outside the province of the guidelines so they will not be considered. They cited the same reason on Tuesday in excluding sustainability of food supplies as an element in recommendations for the American diet.
Soda consumption in Mexico down 6 percent after tax
Mexicans reduced their purchases of sugary beverages by 6 percent following implementation of a one-peso-per-liter tax on sugar-sweetened beverages such as soda, according to a study by the Mexican National Institute of Public Health and the University of North Carolina.
Berkeley schools to get garden, cooking funds from soda tax
The panel overseeing money collected from Berkeley's 1-cent-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages has recommended that $250,000 of the revenue go to the cooking and gardening program at city schools, says Berkeleyside, the independent news site.
Navajo Nation will have first U.S. tax on junk food
The Navajo Nation will begin collecting a 2 percent sales tax next month on pastries, chips, soda, fried food, sweetened beverages and other foods with minimal nutritional value -- the first junk-food tax in the United States, says Mother Jones.
Victory in Berkeley energizes soda tax campaigners
The landslide passage of a 1 cent-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, such as sodas, energy drinks and sweetened teas, by votes in Berkeley, Calif, "was a big defeat for Big Soda and a big victory for...
Berkeley soda tax and Maui GE limits win, GMO labels lose
Voters in Berkeley, Calif, approved the nation's first municipal soda tax and Maui County, Hawaii, passed an initiative that bars cultivation of genetically engineered crops during Tuesday's general elections. Statewide referendums in Oregon and California to require labels of food made with genetically modified organisms were defeated.
A dozen elections with food and agriculture policy impact
A dozen elections today may influence food and agriculture policy nationally, They range from the Kansas race that could determine the next chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee to referendums on soda taxes and GMO labeling.
Orman appeals for farm vote in Kansas Senate race
Independent Greg Orman campaigned in typically Republican rural Kansas with the argument incumbent Pat Roberts doesn't keep the state's agricultural interests in mind, says the Associated Press.
Opponents spend $9 million to defeat soda tax referendums
A combined $9.1 is being spent to defeat referendums in Berkeley and San Francisco on taxing sugar-sweetened beverages, 18 times more than the $489,000 proponents have gathered, according to published reports.
Food and agriculture races to watch on Nov 4
From soda taxes in California to neck-and-neck Senate races in the heartland, an abundance of races of import for U.S. food and agriculture policy will be decided in the Nov 4 elections.
In Berkeley, “a turning point” for soda tax
Mayor Tom Bates of Berkeley, Calif, says the city referendum on a 1-cent soda tax "will definitely be a turning point" in the drive to reduce obesity by making sugary drinks more expensive, say the New York Times.
Opponents make a splash in soda tax campaign
The soda industry is pouring at least $2 million into two city referendums in California that propose a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, says Politico. The votes in San Francisco and Berkeley across the bay could influence national policy on obesity. "If the tax passes in one of the two cities, as polls show it might, it’ll be the first loss for the beverage industry, which has emerged undefeated in more than 30 similar fights in states and cities, from Maine to El Monte, California in recent years," says Politico. Conversely, if the initiatives fail, it may discourage attempts elsewhere.
On today’s agenda in Chicago: Repeal the soda tax
The Cook County Board, overseeing the 41 percent of Illinoisans who live in Chicago and nearby suburbs, is expected to repeal its 1-cent-per-ounce soda tax during a meeting today, only weeks after it took effect. The change of mind in Cook County, the largest jurisdiction in the nation to tax sugary beverages, is a dramatic defeat for public-health advocates.