Will natural whole foods like milk be included in Denmark’s new saturated fat tax?
Health Impact News Editor comments: The Danish government apparently believes they know which foods are healthy and which foods are not, and are going to tax the foods they deem unhealthy. So while most of the rest of the world is coming around to the conclusion that science does not back up the claim that saturated fats are unhealthy, Denmark is moving in the opposite direction, and proposing legislation to discourage people from eating saturated fats. Someone with some common sense needs to remind Lars Løkke Rasmussen that human breast milk has one of the highest concentrations of saturated fat, which is essential to human health. Will nursing mothers need to levy the tax to their newborn babies?
Denmark is set to introduce a tax on food high in saturated fat. The levy, the Danish government claims, will improve the health of the population. The food sector has hit back, questioning that rationale and arguing that consumers will travel to neighbouring countries to buy the affected foods anyway. And, as Gerard O’Dwyer reports, the EU could rule that the tax breaks free trade rules.
The Danish government has turned its face against a storm of criticism with its plans to proceed with the implementation of a controversial saturated food fat tax.
Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen’s centre-right administration plans to bring in the levy in October despite widespread opposition from Denmark’s food industry.
The tax applies to meats, including chicken and pork, cheese, butter, edible vegetable oil, margarine and other foods such as potato-based snacks. The tax, imposed on domestic and imported food, is levied on the weight of saturated fat contained in these foods, and charged at the rate of DKK13.50 per kg of saturated fat.
However, the legal and commercial basis for the tax could end up before the European Court of Justice, following objections lodged by Margarine Foreningen (MIFU), Denmark’s central association of margarine producers.
Read the full article here: http://www.just-food.com/analysis/denmarks-saturated-fat-tax-provokes-industry-anger_id115300.aspx
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