Yahoo – AFP,
John Biers, 24 Sep 2014
New York (AFP) - US soft-drinks giants Tuesday promised to work to reduce the country's beverage calorie consumption by 20 percent by 2025 in a campaign to counter obesity trends.
A woman
shops at a supermarket in Rosemead, California on June 18,
2014 (AFP
Photo/Frederic J. Brown)
|
New York (AFP) - US soft-drinks giants Tuesday promised to work to reduce the country's beverage calorie consumption by 20 percent by 2025 in a campaign to counter obesity trends.
Coca-Cola, PepsiCo
and Dr. Pepper Snapple pledged to provide smaller-sized bottles, and more water
and other low- or no-calorie beverages, to the market to help bring down
per-person consumption of their high-sugar drinks.
They also
agreed to better publicize calorie counts on vending machines, retail coolers
and all drink-vending equipment controlled by the companies.
American
soda giants promised to work
to reduce US beverage calorie consumption
by 20
percent by 2025 in a campaign to counter
obesity trends (AFP Photo/Spencer
Platt)
|
The goal is
to cut calories from drinks by 20 percent per person within a decade.
The
initiative comes as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and others struggle with flagging sales
in their home market. Coca-Cola reported flat sales in North America in the
most recent quarter.
Regulators
in New York City, California and other venues have proposed measures to cut
drink size or enhance labeling requirements.
The
companies also said they would intensify awareness campaigns and promotion of
healthier beverages in communities where there have been fewer options to often
sugar-laden soft drinks.
They will
retain an independent evaluator to track progress, in conjunction with an
advocacy group set up by the Clinton Foundation, founded by former president
Bill Clinton, and the American Heart Association.
Public
health advocates said the measures did not go far enough.
The Center
for Science in the Public Interest, a public-interest advocacy group in
Washington, said the initiative was "welcome news," but called on the
companies to drop their opposition to taxes and warning labels on sugary
drinks.
"We
applaud President Clinton for his efforts," the group said in a statement.
"But we need much bigger and faster reductions to adequately protect the
public's health."
Measures to
tax sugary drinks "could further reduce calories in America's beverage mix
even more quickly, and would raise needed revenue for the prevention and
treatment of soda-related diseases," the group said in a statement.
Marion
Nestle, a nutrition and public health professor at New York University, said
the companies would have no problem reaching the 20 percent target in light of
consumption trends that are already happening.
"If
they really want to promote public health, they should stop fighting soda taxes
and lobbying against this and other public health measures," she said in
an email message. "This is pure public relations."
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