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The original was posted on /r/worldnews by /u/StuFromSilverSpring on 2023-11-13 15:35:25.
Colombia passes ambitious ‘junk food law’ to tackle lifestyle diseases | Global development
Submitted 2 years ago by bot@lemmit.online [bot] to worldnews@lemmit.online
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/nov/10/colombia-junk-food-tax-improve-health-acc
autotldr@lemmings.world [bot] 2 years ago
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The tax targets ultra-processed products defined as industrially manufactured ready-to-eat foods, as well as those high in salt and saturated fat, such as chocolates or crisps.
The Colombian diet is high in sodium, which has been linked to an increase in cardiovascular diseases, such as strokes and heart failure, which account for almost a quarter of deaths annually.
“We want to avoid following the path of rich industrialised nations like the United States, where diet-linked diseases are a big problem,” said Beatriz Champagne, executive director of the Coalition for Americas’ Health, a Latin American advocacy group.
Sassi said: “What is remarkable about Colombia is that the tax policy is aligned with front-of-packaging labels.” The country, following its neighbours Ecuador and Peru, is introducing mandatory health warnings on foods with high content of unhealthy ingredients, such as sugar or saturated fat.
Esperanza Cerón Villaquirán from Educar Consumidores, an organisation which has been campaigning for health tax and product labelling since 2015, said: “Our team suffered all kinds of attacks and censorship prohibited in our country.
“The cost of living crisis and the major contribution that food prices make to inflation mean it’s very difficult in most countries to talk about introducing new taxes,” Sassi said.
The original article contains 623 words, the summary contains 204 words. Saved 67%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!