Posted by Emily Berkelmans
on 29 January 2012
On October 2 2011, Denmark became the first country in the world to impose a Fat Tax on foods that contain more than 2.3% saturated fat. Such foods include butter, cheese, sugar, sausages, biscuits, fast food, bacon, pastries, milk, oil and other processed foods. This tax was approved by the majority of the Danish Parliament as a preventative measure to curb unhealthy eating habits in the country and to ultimately increase the life expectancy of the Danish, by decreasing obesity. The Danish health minister was quoted in 2009, when he first announced the idea of this tax, as saying "higher fees on sugar and fat is an important step on the way toward a higher average life expectancy in Denmark, because saturated fats can cause cardiovascular disease and cancer."
In September 2011 the country of Hungary introduced a similar tax on unhealthy foods, called the 'Hamburger Law', which involves increased taxes on soft drinks, salty snacks, food flavourings and pastries.
A mere week after Denmark introduced this tax, Finland, Romania and Britain were quick to imply that they were considering the implementation of similar versions of the fat tax in their own countries.
Should Australia follow suit and implement a fat tax? Do you think this would solve our countries' increasing obesity numbers?
Michelle Bridges, a celebrity fitness trainer and fitness expert and Dr Christina Pollard, an accredited dietitian, had very different answers to this question.
It was argued by Michelle Bridges that the revenue that would be gained from such a tax could be utilised to subsidise fresh groceries and produce. Michelle statess that unhealthy eating habits in Australia are skyrocketing and are taking a toll at a human level and a financial level. A report from the ABS (Australia Bureau of Statistics) in 2008 revealed that the yearly cost of obesity in Australia was approximately $58 billion. This financial cost is HUGE. Australians have been known to respond when food prices increase; we all remember when the cost of bananas rose to around $12- $15 a kilo a few years back. And how did the Australian public react? We stopped buying them. Therefore, Michelle believes that there is a valid argument that introducing such a fat tax in our country would change the way that Australian citzens spend their money (a fat tax would increase the cost of a fast-food burger by around 40 to 50 cents). A fat tax would be a proactive measure against rising obesity in Australia. According to Michelle Bridges, the Australian government has a responsibility to protect its nation, and implementing a fat tax would do just this.
Dr Christina Pollard disagrees with Michelle and states that 'a comprehensive set of actions is needed in Australia' to reduce the obesity epidemic, 'not just a tax'. Dr Pollard's arguement is that the Australian government needs to entirely change its stance on fatty foods, by adding price inducements to healthy foods, displaying calories on alcohol products, changing food labels, funding nutrition education campaigns and making junk food the less popular choice by decreasing advertising and promotion. Dr Pollard states that the government should use its power to make food labels less confusing, as she believes the 'daily intake guide' (DIG) is too complex for many Australians to understand. She suggests that nutritional information should be easily legible by creating colour coded labels on food packaging, which would enable Australians to decide which foods they should eat more, be cautious of and reduce their intake of. Dr Pollard admits that such lifestyle changes would not be easy for Australians, however she believes that implementing stricter regulation on food would assist the public to make empowered dietary changes.
What do our blog viewers think? We are very interested to know! Do you think that Australia needs a fat tax? Would such a tax run the risk of solely increasing revenue and not achieving much in the way of reducing obesity or could the revenue gained from the tax be used in a productive way to decrease the obesity epidemic? Comment below and share your viewers!
