to agree with Jamie Oliver that sugar is "the next tobacco" and it should be taxed due to its health risks

[haveatarday]

I think Jo is a twat, but I do agree with this. I also think he should feel very guilty for all his promotion of sugary foods that he has made millions off. I remember him going on about crap school dinners all the while being the focus of sainsburys Christmas's foods and promoting gingerbread, trifile and other junk food all while saying go on its Christmas.

If someone else can't control their consumption, then we could take the stance "survival of the fittest" (OK, I don't really mean that, but I get closer to it every time one of these suggestions comes up).

Aw was just enjoying my sticky toffee pudding and custard!

Saucy - Do you have a Sainsburys near you? Would you go on a bus to your closest one just for one bag of apples because they were cheaper than your local co-op? What about the rest of your shopping which will work out more expensive in Sainsburys? What about after you factor the bus fare in, is it still a bargain to spend £7 to save £1.75 on a bag of apples?

Taxing cars massively for any journey less than 10 miles would do way more than taxing sugar for health benefits, and it wouldn't even be as inequitable as taxing food. Terrible idea.

I agree with you there omnipotent

And also with those with concerns about artificial sweeteners as replacements that would easily get round a tax

The answer of course is to encourage toward unprocessed as much as possible, but it's easy for those like me with the time and resources (personal and material) to make those choices. Also we live in an obesogenic environment so it's really not that simple

Bit rich coming from someone who made a recipe for marshmallow meringue with his young son on a recent show.

I like Jamie Oliver - mostly - and I think he's probably gone in gung-ho with this which is very much his style without explaining what he really means. As a nation we do eat too much sugar - but so much of this is 'hidden' sugar in forms such as High Fructose Corn Syrup. We simply don't need this. I love a trifle or a pile of Tiramisu as much as the next woman but to eat something like that daily IS piling too much sugar into your body. It just is.
I agree with pp that a goodly percentage of the problem is that there is an abundance of cheap foods out there made with dreadful meat, awful fillers, nasty preservatives and too much salt and HFCS to make it taste ok - obviously if you're on a tight budget it's going to be that kind of thing every day or organic wholemeal super healthy for 3 days and fuck all for the next 4. It's this more than anything that needs addressing.

Jux that really just means survival of the privileges though

*privileged

Saucy I shop in waitrose so I don't need an excuse, I'm just thinking of people less fortunate than me. which some people find difficult for some reason

There's very little High Fructose Corn Syrup in the EU, it's simply too expensive - it's not subsidised like in the US, the EU stats on production show way less than 5% of the sugar like stuff is HFCS, it's incredibly minor and only used where the sweetness differences of it are important. Of course it's also only very minorly different than regular sugar (slightly more or less fructose than "sugar" depending on the blend)

There's a lot of problems, it's not just the sugar/salt. Food manufacturers are always looking to cut costs and maximise profits, so they add sugar and salt to make up for the fact that the cheaper ingredients have made their product taste like shit. Even the 'expensive' products contain far too much salt and sugar.

The UK is dependent upon cars, we don't walk places any more and we work more, mostly stuck at a desk all day. The lack of exercise and the increased sugar and salt isn't good. I also suspect portion sizes are not understood. No one weighs 40g of cereal and if they did it would be a tiny amount. Plates have got larger and the extra calories go somewhere.

Taxing sugar isn't really getting to the route of the problem. It's like taxing alcohol. Good in theory, but surely it's better to try to work out why people drink so much in the first place?

I'm not sure how it could enforced. Tobacco is in a very limited range of products which are intentionally purchased for that specific content. Refined sugar is in bloody everything these days! Would the tax apply to supermarket bread, or just Mars Bars?

I spent too long in the grocery store yesterday trying to find a tin of kidney beans that didn't contain sugar. I just gave up in the end and bought them. I didn't want sugar in my kidney beans! It's all very well talking about personal responsibility but the good industry needs to step up too.

That was my understanding too fredfred

You can buy them dried and in bags. All you do is rehydrate them in a bowl of water, Mrsfumble. No sugar, I don't think.

True LadySybil. I'll probably get a bag of dried ones next time. My point was that I was trying to buy a product that doesn't need to added sugar and I would have liked a choice, especially if there was going to be a tax involved.

MrsFumble What supermarket were you in? I've never seen a supermarket with sugar in kidney beans unless it's really a chili sauce type deal:
www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=259061829
www.waitrose.com/shop/ProductView-10317--9481-essential+Waitrose+red+kidney+beans+in+water
groceries.asda.com/asda-webstore/pages/landing/home.shtml?cmpid=ahc--ghs--asdacom-dsk--hp--produce-rollbacks-banner-1?&referrer=cookiesDetecting#!product/19134598
www.sainsburys.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/gb/groceries/sainsburys-red-kidney-beans-in-water-410g

I get you, there's really no reason why they should have added sugar. It's very difficult to avoid unless you cook from scratch all the time.

'I 'd save. I'd have a trifle fund'.

I d beg, i ' d work extra hours, i ' d sell a kidney, i 'd set up a facebook page for donations or my friend would do that for me. I will not have Christmas with no trifle and YAVVVU.

There's sugar by way of carbs in the waitrose one, Fred "- Sugars 0.3g 0.2 g (when drained)"

fredfred I have looked at the ingredients on loads of stuff (as I'm quite dull like that ) and many many products have corn syrup in. There are 5 or 6 different names for it. It is really bad stuff as well.

Agree with you Petula about sweeteners. I think they've shown that artificial sweeteners end up making you fatter (for a variety of reasons) and DH who has a diabteic father said the other day apaprently they are now coming round from saying they are OK for diabetics, to not. I prefer sugar to both artifical sweeteners and corn syrup TBH and so do that whenever possible, hence my avid label reading but many mainstream products do contain corn syrup.

I'd like to see if he's going to practice what he's preaching.

I'm in the USA. It was a local chain called Homeland. I'd love to be able shop in Waitrose or Sainsbury's again...

I don't think anyone would even bother suggesting a sugar tax here!

Did anyone see the Southern Fried chicken he made on last Friday's Jimmy & Jamie pier show?

Had 100g of salt and a load of brown SUGAR in the preparation.

The man who preaches healthy eating whilst making creamy pasta dishes with shed loads of olive oil and salt.

Oh, and lacing your child's fruit it's super hot chili is appropriate punishment.

Riiiiiiiiiight.

I agree OP - totally with you. It's easy to control sugar content when you're doing your own cooking, but the amount of sugar that is added to food that we buy is appalling.

Won't happen for years though sadly - food manufacturers and supermarkets are far too powerful.