Three-quarters of soft drinks sold in Ireland are not liable for the upcoming sugar tax, according to the Irish Beverage Council.
The Ibec group, which represents soft drinks companies, said that 76% of soft drinks in Ireland are sugar tax-free as a result of the industry’s ’35-year journey to reduce sugar content in drinks’.
Irish Beverage Council Director, Colm Jordan, said, “In Ireland, 10 billion calories have been removed annually between 2005 and 2012 through voluntary sugar reduction in soft drinks. That is a 10 percent reduction in seven years. Today, soft drinks represent less than 3 percent of Ireland’s calorific intake.
“The sugar-sweetened drink tax, passed in the last budget, will come into force this Tuesday, 1st May. The Government’s Health Impact Assessment found no conclusive evidence a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks will impact population weight. Wherever a tax has been introduced it has failed to tackle obesity. Notwithstanding this, we have co-operated fully with the design and implementation of the tax.”
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Aidan O’Sullivan. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
