Seven major drinks companies including
Coca-Cola and PepsiCo will limit the sugar content of drinks they sell in
Singapore, as part of the city-state’s campaign to fight diabetes.
Singapore is one of the first countries in
Asia to target sugary drinks, bringing it in line with many Western nations
that have sought to mitigate the health risks associated with sugar through measures
such as taxes and warning labels.
Globally, beverage firms have been reworking
recipes, racing to cut sugar and introduced more options to cater to
increasingly health-conscious consumers.
On Tuesday, Singapore’s ministry of health
said the seven firms had signed an industry pledge to remove by 2020 drinks
that contain more than 12 percent sugar from their portfolios of
sugar-sweetened beverages.
As well as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, the
companies include F&N Foods, Malaysia Dairy Industries, Nestle, Pokka and
Yeo Hiap Seng.
“In addition to this industry
commitment, Coca-Cola Singapore is making an additional commitment to reduce
the sugar content in our portfolio of sugar-sweetened beverages by 10 percent
by 2020,”
Coca-Cola said in an email to Reuters.
It said it had been reducing sugar and
calories across many of its brands, and offering more new drinks with low sugar
content or no added sugar.
Daily sugar consumption per capita from soft
drinks has risen since 2010 to 6.08 grammes in Asia-Pacific in 2016, with
Singapore at 11.99 grammes, according to market research firm Euromonitor.
Consumption has been trending lower in Europe
and the United States, but it is still higher than in Asia-Pacific.
“Governments in Asia are actively
promoting healthy consumption, such as Malaysia which launched its Healthier
Choices Logo in April 2017,” said Euromonitor International analyst
Nathanael Lim.
“Consumers also have an increasing
preference for beverages containing natural ingredients with zero sugar.”
The World Health Organisation said in 2016
drinking fewer calorific sweet drinks was the best way to curb excessive weight
and prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes, although fat and salt in
processed foods were also to blame.
Among Asian countries, the Philippines has
slapped levies on sugar-sweetened beverages, while Indonesia and India have
been considering similar taxes.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
mentioned the drinks makers’ agreement in a speech on Sunday, in which he also
urged people to drink water, eat wholemeal bread and brown rice, but did
provide details
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