THE FAT TAX-A NEW INITIATIVE IN AUSTRALIA

Why do the governments world over impose taxes on products and services? Obviously because they want to generate resources which can be spend for their economic and social development. By far taxes in the form of sales tax, value added tax, octroi, entry tax etc spread the net far and wide among the citizens and generate huge revenue for the governments. The concept of using taxation as a tool to regulate consumption is relatively a new phenomenon and most common examples are Cigarettes and alcohol products. It is true that both smoking and alcohol consumption are not considered safe and therefore taxes on them are frequently increased to make them costlier while reducing the overall consumption. While such a strategy seemed to have worked in the case of tobacco products, the result in the case of alcoholic drinks cannot be considered a success. In a recent report it was revealed that the high end Scotch Whiskey demand world over is rising rapidly though it is one of the costliest among spirit products! This approach was tried on foods also in Denmark where taxes were hiked on products considered highly unhealthy containing high amounts of fat and sugar. The result was not very encouraging because in the EU with a no restriction on inter country travel within the Community, Danish citizens had always access to cheaper products across the borders! Same strategy is now being thought of in Australia where plans are afoot to impose a "fat tax" on foods containing above a certain level of saturated fat. Here is a commentary on this new initiative to control obesity in that country where almost two thirds of the population is considered overweight. 

"The fat tax will apply to products containing more than 2.3 percent saturated fat. This will include but not be limited to oils, meats, cheeses, processed products, and fast foods. With 63 percent of Australians are overweight and nearly 22 percent of adults have high blood pressure, it is no wonder that such stringent actions are being put into action. The chief executive of the Heart Foundation, Lyn Roberts, said that more Australians were at risk of eating themselves to death. In order to boost the success of this new fat tax, eatforhealth.gov.au has published new dietary guidelines for Australians to follow, along with advice on choosing the right foods. In view of efforts like this, the fat tax is hardly as wicked as it first sounds. Sure, prices will increase, but the Australian population will learn how to manage their eating habits in a healthier way. Obesity Policy Coalition spokeswoman Jane Martin said policies encouraging physical activity and healthy eating appeared to stabilize, instead of increase, the numbers of overweight and obese children, but other efforts, such as this tax, were needed to reduce the numbers in the obese population. However, drawbacks to such a measure have been seen in Denmark as well as New York. When Danish officials attempted their fat tax, residents simply visited other countries to buy sugary beverages and fatty foods at an affordable price. When Mayor Michael Bloomberg attempted to restrict the sale of sugary beverages greater than 16 fl oz., residents protested and the law was never passed. These results may not necessarily be duplicated in Australia, as the country has established that more than half of its population is overweight and needs to urgently cut back on fat consumption".

Will Australia succeed where Denmark has failed? Probably yes because the nearest market to Australians is New Zealand which is about 2000 miles away. Government can also hike the import duty on such foods it considers as unhealthy. Desperate situation demands desperate efforts to address the problem and Australia really needs to tackle the "body bloating" syndrome now and here! One positive aspect of this policy orchestration is that the additional revenue generated is slated to be spent on subsidizing healthy foods which invariably cost much higher world over including Australia. It is an unprecedented tragedy that the consumer prices of unhealthy foods are declining significantly while that of healthy foods like fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grain products etc are showing an opposite trend putting them beyond the reach of more and more people who really need them to maintain decent health. 

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

ABOLITION OF "FAT TAX" IN DENMARK-WHAT IS THE LESSON LEARNED?

"Taxing your way to health" is a favorite slogan for may health purists, the idea being to make unhealthy foods too costly for the consumers to buy in the market. It was Denmark, one of the more affluent countries coming under the umbrella of European Union which was the first nation to introduce a fat tax on products containing more than a certain percentage of fat in the product marketed by the industry. But surprisingly it withdrew this new tax recently after coming to the conclusion that such punitive taxes just do not work. A larger question that remains unanswered is whether the tax policy, tried out in a country with no borders as that exist between independent countries, could have been more successful in any other country? For example, what would have been the result if such a policy was tried out in India where consumers cannot go to a neighboring country like China that easily and which is the world capital of "cheap" consumer goods, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka or Nepal? Probably it would have had a better chance of success. Here is a report about the experience of Denmark in imposing a fat tax and later withdrawing it.

"About a year ago, the Danish government tested out a policy never before seen in the world. It implemented an across-the-board tax on all foods with a saturated fat content above 2.3 percent, with the hopes of reducing consumption of unhealthy foods. But it didn't quite work that way. Some Danes did indeed switch to lower fat cheeses  and dairy products, The Wall Street Journal's Clemens Bomsdorf reports. But a lot of them simply began to do their grocery shopping internationally, heading to countries that didn't levy a fine on fat: There is little evidence the tax impacted consumers financially, but it did spark a shift in consumer habits. Many Danes have bought lower-cost alternatives, or in some cases hopped the border to Germany, where prices are roughly 20% lower, or to Sweden. >The Sky supermarket located in northern Germany was one company benefiting from the trend. Last week, more than half the cars in the crowded parking lot had Danish license plates. >"We did not use to buy cheese here, but the price difference for our favorite type is now more than 30%," Anitha Nissen said, while helping her husband load groceries into their silver Suzuki. The Danish couple now crosses the border three or four times a year to stock up on goods. The Danish government announced Saturday it would abolish the fat tax as part of budget negotiations there. Denmark's experience suggests one of the big challenges with regulating unhealthy foods: People can always switch to an alternative, that's a bit less expensive".

There are two consumer items in the world which are taxed heavily-Cigarette and Alcohol but what has been the experience? It is true that neither consumption of alcohol nor cigarette has disappeared though a few were forced to reduce the consumption for economic reasons but is the number of those stopping the consumption significant enough to make an impact? This point requires in-depth analysis to shape any future options mankind may think about in tackling these undesirable consumption trends. Besides fat, other food ingredients like sugar and salt are also under scrutiny as they are implicated in many human disorders and a coherent action plan is the need of the hour for overcoming such food related health contingencies in future. Education at an early stage regarding the adverse consequences of consuming unhealthy foods, social pressure, public policies and incentives by the government may still have a chance to de-addict people from unhealthy practices.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

INDUSTRY-UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIP-ANOTHER EXAMPLE

Industry-University partnership is more often talked about with very little progress at the ground level. There is a basic mistrust of the industry by the scientific community and the reason is the divergent view about the value of research. While scientists work for pushing the frontiers of knowledge further and further, industry's perception is invariably is about its bottom line, expanding the profit margin further and further! Is there a meeting ground between these two diametrically opposite views? It looks like there is a convergence as evidenced by the visionary R & D projects being sponsored in Denmark for undertaking industry oriented research work as a collaborative venture between universities and industry players. This consortium approach if adopted in other countries too, the food industry can scale new heights by gaining consumer confidence in a big way.

'2011 will bring with it a series of new research activities in the Department of Food Science at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Aarhus University. The new projects are part of the research platform inSPIRe (Danish Industry-Science Partnership for Innovation and Research in Food Science), which is established with support from the Danish Council for Strategic Research and the Danish Council for Technology and Innovation and will be led by the Technical University of Denmark. In the new projects, the scientists from the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences will, in particular, focus on research in milk quality, spreadable products, and improved quality of partially processed fruit and vegetable products. The projects include a number of companies and industry-related organisations, i.e. Arla Foods, Foss, AarhusKarlshamn, Agrotech, Danish Cattle, Danish Dairy Research Foundation, and the Research Union for Fruit, Vegetables and Potatoes. Other projects in the InSPIRe platform involve a range of other Danish food companies, ingredient suppliers and suppliers of equipment for the food industry. It is outstanding to see such a massive effort in food technology and to have established such a strong consortium in the area. We really look forward to getting started, says head of research unit Grith Mortensen from the Department of Food Science".

Though on paper such a strategy looks very impressive, in practical terms how the differing perceptions of scientists and industry players can be reconciled remains to be seen. Innovations in private sector are invariably patented so that the investment on research can be recovered over a period of time. What will happen to the outcome of these research projects and what benefits the researchers will have for their efforts are grey areas. Nonetheless the very fact that they have joined together for the national cause proves a point that given the motivation people are capable of putting in superlative efforts to attain the goal.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com