The health establishment is already overwhelmed by the problems that the excessive consumption of sugar, especially through soft drinks, is causing. The health problem, which is accelerating and accumulating, will crash the health system very soon.
The food industry, much like the tobacco industry did before it was slapped with punitive costs for hiding the addictive nature of nicotine, is taking no responsibility whatsoever for the growing health crisis in our country.
Obesity in children is an alarming manifestation of the intake of high calories. Many other health problems are also very evident.
Everyone can see that this is so. The tax on drinks will not provide consumers with the information they need.
I therefore wish to urge activists and all concerned role-players to demand legislation that will compel food manufacturers to show the actual sugar content of the product through affixing a white strip on each package or bottle that corresponds in width with the amount of sugar in the product.
If 10% of the product is sugar, the white strip must cover 10% of the package or bottle.
Shapes and sizes of bottles and boxes must allow for fair comparisons to be made between products of a similar nature.
Such a requirement will allow consumers to see at once how much of a product is sugar.
Food manufacturers who do not wish to face massive claims in the future should pro-actively show utmost transparency and reveal graphically the actual quantity of sugar in each item.
Sugar cannot remain an unquantified ingredient.
People have a right to know exactly how much sugar they are consuming each time and thereby to determine what impact their dietary habits are having on their health and well-being.