France 'fat tax' on fizzy drinks to tackle obesity

Ian Sparks12 April 2012

France is to impose a fat tax on sugary soft drinks in a bid to combat soaring child obesity.

Zero-calorie diet drinks will be exempt from the charges.

The new measures - an increase of from three to six cents per litre - are also expected to raise more than £100million a year which would be used to help farm workers, the government said.

The move comes days after France also announced it would be rationing tomato ketchup and salt in school canteens.

Under the rules, tomato sauce and mayonnaise will only be on dinner tables once a week when chips are on the menu and would be removed when traditional French dishes such as roast veal are served.

Denmark also recently announced a new higher tax on foods containing high levels of saturated fat.

French MP Gilles Carrez said: "This project will have both health benefits, as children turn away from sugary drinks, and revenue benefits for our agricultural workforce."

A recent study found a diet of junk food is turning the traditionally skinny French into fatties.

More than 20million French people are now overweight and sevenmillion of those are clinically obese - double the figure for 14 years ago, according to France's National Institute for Health and Medical Research.

Despite still being officially Europe's second-thinnest people, the weight of the average French person has soared by half a stone to 11st4lb since 1997.

A French health ministry spokesman added: "We French may be among the least overweight in Europe but we have nothing to be complacent about.

"Obesity is rising as swiftly in France as it is in other EU countries and action must be taken before it gets any more serious."

Europe's fattest nation is Greece, where 70 per cent of people are overweight, and 30 per cent are obese. Britons come fifth, behind Germany, Finland and Ireland.

The NHS defines being overweight as having a body mass index - your weight to height ratio - of between 25 and 30. "Obese" is a figure higher than 30.

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