Petition to ask the PM to cut taxation on healthy fruit juices and smoothies...

[ShinyHappyPeopleEatingEggs]

..if you feel strongly enough!

Oi Tony!! Help us afford our five-a-day!

LOL.. clearly VERY important to a great many people... )

perhaps they should put vat on ready and chilled meals

Sorry, i dont get it... surely the healthy choice is fresh fruit and veg not some prepackaged juice or smoothie?

cut vat on fruit so people can make their own would be better imo

snap Maleche

there isn't vat on fruit

it has been set up by innocent, the people who make smoothies and juices.

There will always be people who wish to grab a fruit juice or smoothie on the run.. commuters for instacne.. better than a coffee or a cok. And it doesn't stop them or the rest of us making our own does it? What's to get?? They are unfeasibly expensive...

Yeah but it doesn't only APPLY to Innocent products.

(COKE not cok!!! )

IMO this is the problem with trying to get the population to eat healthy. People think that if a product (note use of word 'product' not 'food') has got 'healthy' or 'organic' or whatever written on it it must be good for them. If it's got some fruit in it never mind how tiny the amount and never mind how many the additives it must be healthy. If the gov wants people to eat healthy they should say:
5 a day of anything with less than two ingredients on the label, i.e. FRESH and in its original packaging - its peel!
Rant over and I appreciate that some people can't afford to replace the packets they buy with fresh produce or have the time to cook it but common sense is free!

SJ, I was surprised the other day when reading my Sainsburys receipt (I know how to enjoy myself) that Copella apple juice (pure) and Sainsburys apple & mango (pure) were VATable but Sainsburys freshly-squeezed orange juice wasn't, even though it was no longer in its peel. (Special offer atm, 2 for £3, it used to be £2.49 a bottle and it's lovely)

The other 2 have a longer shelf life (fridge-life) so something extra is done to them I spose - pastuerisation or something - but I agree it's silly and I will sign the petition!

i buy the inocent smoothies for dd. she has cp and can't manage to eat fruit and didn't like home made smoothies........better than nothing surely

BizzyDint on Thu 19-Apr-07 10:09:55
it has been set up by innocent, the people who make smoothies and juices.

Well there you go, and what's to stop a commuter grabbing an apple? ffs

Actually, Sue Palmer, author of Toxic Childhood which I recommend to everyone, found that many families on low budgets were happy to 'buy poor-quality or cheap basics such as white bread and a small and limited variety of fruit and vegetables but seem quite happy to spend more money on branded expensive cakes, chocolates , snacks etc.'

Just saying you have to eat five a day isnt enough - theres a real lack of understanding about basic nutrition right across the population and very little savvyness about what we are being SOLD, IMO

Who are you Wendy? I feel at a disadvantage as you are addressing me as SJ so much "know" me..

CRISPS ARE ZERO RATED FFS

JanH, SJ - this is the new me

Oh for heaven's sake Malalech, eating an apple isn't the same as drinking an instant smoothie!!! And enough of the generalistic classist babble about "low income families" being unable to comprehend the basics of healthy eating!! What ALL of them???

[waves at Jan in new incarnation]

[waves back]

Why are you still eating eggs btw?

Well I was eating scrambled eggs as I posted before.. (there's some in the new-new keyboard actually.. I'm such a slut!).. as I pondered that Easter was technically over...

Oh for heaven's sake Malalech, eating an apple isn't the same as drinking an instant smoothie!!! And enough of the generalistic classist babble about "low income families" being unable to comprehend the basics of healthy eating!! What ALL of them???

But eating an apple is healthier isnt it? If the petition is to 'help us afford our 5 a day' then surely an apple is cheaper than a smoothie? And i wasnt being classist, I said 'right across the population' . I was quoting the book as a continuation of my previous post where i had said 'I appreciate that some people can't afford to replace the packets they buy with fresh produce' because actually i dont think it's only about income its about education in basic nutrition. Across the population...

I've lived outside the UK for 16 years and on regular visits back have really noticed how the variety of food for sale has changed over the last 10. There's so much processed, ready to eat stuff now and so-called healthy options which arent. The contrast with where i live (Spain) is big - unfortunately it's going the same way here. I think it has a lot to do with the hours people work in the UK, here we get 3 hours for lunch! Also the fact that most women now work outside the home and dont have time to cook from fresh. I'm not saying we should be home cooking but it is having an effect on our nutrition.

forgot the quotations round the first paragraph!

But you wouldn't want to eat an apple if you were thirsty! And rather an bottled smoothie than a can of coke surely! (Coke is so much cheaper...!)

Water?