𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸: 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘁𝗮𝘅𝗲𝘀: 𝗜𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘆, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 !

🥥To dive deeper into how the food system is evolving and what consumers can do, explore the full GoCoCo blog.

Studies on the efficiency of fiscal measures to curb unhealthy food purchase, ultimately focused at chronic disease and well-being, are sprouting like mushrooms lately, focusing both on ultra-process foods (UPFs) and High in Fat, Salt and Sugar (HFSS).
By the way, it's not just theory :
👉 more than 50 countries/jurisdictions have implemented taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages
👉 18 countries have taxed foods High in Fat, Salt and Sugar (HFSS)
👏🇲🇽 kudos to Mexico for being a leader in this field, both in terms of regulation and studying the impact thereof to further fine-tune.
(𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦: 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘢-𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘸).

This has had much less spotlight than labeling, but it certainly looks like we are onto something. Here are our 5 take-away messages from several recent studies published:

1️ Using taxes to reduce unhealthy food purchase works.

2️ Higher tax rates are more effective than lower rates in reducing sales and intake: Go Big or Go Home.

3️ Low-income groups are more responsive to tax effects: that's good for health, not for the household budget (and food inequity).

4️ In turn, subsidies on healthy food for low income populations, may compensate this food inequity.

5️ To enable a positive nutritional impact, such fiscal policies must:
✅ be broadly applied,
✅ used in combination with other measures to modify the environment we shop in: marketing control, restricting availability of unhealthy food, etc.
‍

For more context on how GoCoCo is shaping the conversation around food and health, read how our app was rated the best food scanning tool and explore highlights from our previous press review.

Full articles:
🔗 Taxes focusing on unhealthy UPFs vs subsidising minimally processed foods (US): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074937972400076X
‍🔗 Taxes focusing on UPFs vs subsidising fruit & veg (US): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002916522001289
‍🔗 Meta-analysis on health taxes on foods High in Fat, Salt and Sugar (incl USA, Mexico, Denmark, Hungary, Singapore, New Zealand and Canada). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919224000101

‍In the words of Dr Pineda "𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴, 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘹𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘢 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦."‍