Tell us what we’re eating first – Sasa
JOBURG – South Africans need to know first and foremost what they were eating before government can consider imposing a sugar tax as proposed.
The South African Sugar Association (Sasa) believes the government should conduct a study that would inform South Africans what they were eating that contributes to high levels of obesity and lifestyle diseases.
The chairperson of Sasa, Rolf Lutge made this comment at a media conference in Rosebank to weigh in on the proposed government taxation of sugar-sweetened beverages as of next April.
Lutge urged the government to focus on all calories that people were eating, as opposed to singling out one of the calories or individual ingredients in a particular food product, and then punishing that particular industry which produced that particular ingredient.
“This will not work as it amounts to putting the cart before the horse. South Africans need to know what they are eating that contributes to high levels of obesity in the country and increased lifestyle diseases. We need to conduct a study that would inform us what it is that we’re eating,” Lutge said.
He added that fat-free foods were flooding the shelves of grocery shops in the country, yet, the levels of obesity and lifestyle diseases were still rising. “It tells us that we need a holistic approach to finding solutions to tackling these mystery ingredients that lead to obesity and lifestyle diseases.”
Lutge said they had proposed for a jointly funded R33 million study into what South Africans were eating, saying it was ‘very important for us to know that first before we can begin to point fingers in the direction of certain individual ingredients in a particular food product’.
That study had not got off the ground, he said, adding that Sasa had asked for joint funding to alienate the notion that it was an industry-funded study and therefore the results would not be as credible.
“We’re still waiting to hear from government on this proposal which was made some time ago, and I believe it will be the only credible study that will inform on the wrong things that we’re eating which tend to bulge our obesity and lifestyle disease figures,” Lutge said.
Also read: Sasa urges government to rethink sugar tax
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