Why Are Coffee Shop Chains Still Excempt From The Sugar Tax?

[barney15c]

Just reading in the worst case some of these seasonal drinks contain 23 teaspoons of sugar or over 93g of sugar. This is more than 3 cans of Coca Cola which does come under the sugar tax.
This makes a complete mockery of the whole initiative. Its bad enough these chains don't pay enough direct taxes as it is, let alone one that is supposed to help in the fight against obesity. This needs to be urgently addressed. I'd rather they cut the sugar down than be taxes but will this ever happen. On an aside one of the Seasonal drinks sold promotes to be health as it is made with oat milk but is then topped with Dairy Whipped Cream, where is the sense in that? Absolutely absurd.

[Canary42]

The answer can be found in plain brown envelopes.

[Zacs-Master]

It is aimed at manufacturers. For the purposes of the legislation, coffee shops aren't manufacturers.

[barney15c]

Strictly speaking that's true Zacs, however they assemble the ingredients to make their product to their own specification which surely is a form of manufacturing. I still think it is absurd and if the government is serious about cutting obesity they have to strengthen the rules instead of letting the chains skirt around the ambiguities.

[Rockrose]

On top of Zacs answer and as you have raised it - legally these coffee shops pay the correct amount of tax they are required too.
They have found a legal loophole and are using it.

[Zacs-Master]

'Strictly speaking that's true Zacs' Yes, I know. That's why I wrote it in answer to your OP. You're attempting to move the goal posts with your opinion of what constitutes manufacturing and the fact that you think the Govt should extend the term 'manufacturing' to include coffee shops. I actually agree with you but there is a slight duty on the consumer to be aware of how much sugar goes into drinks. If it tastes sweet, common sense would indicate that it has a high sugar content.

[woofgang]

Its not the chains who are exempt its the fact that milk based drinks are exempt.

[Zacs-Master]

'Its not the chains who are exempt' yes, it is. They don't fall under the act's definition of manufacturing.

[barney15c]

Zac's, you would only know that is that sweet the first time you tried one. Anyhoo isn't this just another example of an initiative that's rushed through because its the next hot topic and leaving gaping holes in the legislation that allow savvy companies to run roughshod through it. 23 spoonfulls of sugar in a drink is damn right irresponsible in this day and age and morally these companies should be setting an example. But its all in pursuit of profit and the government obviously thinks that it's OK to separate the manufacturer from the shop counter when it comes to the nations health. Maybe when the general public start to have toes and fingers removed because of indulging in this kind of product they will stat asking why Starbucks and the like are not held accountable for what they are selling.

[dannyk13]

Barney, don't customers put the sugar in their coffee?

[Mamyalynne]

Action on Sugar was pushing for coffee shops to be included before the levy came into force, perhaps they will be targeted soon.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-50628962

[bluemoon1]

Yes why not? I love paying more in tax.

[Old_Geezer]

The idea of using sugar quantity to tax is already absurd. It's about extracting money from the public more than it is about improving health. If it were really a health issue mandary figures would need to be clearly shown on the product, and the public educated as to both reasonable and unhealthy levels.

[theprof]

First and foremost, it's the consumer's responsibility to regulate the amount of sugar they consume from beverages. That's it, pure and simple. Despite the jumping up and down that Action On Sugar make, none of us are living in a Nanny State where governments don't trust us to regulate our sugar intake and we are free to decide for ourselves if we wish to drink these high sugar beverages. It's your call.

The sugar content figures of the products sold in coffee chains are readily available at the branch last time I looked and should there be any doubt, the staff at the chain will clarify the issue. If you don't know, ask. Again, it's your call.

The so-called sugar tax implementation is indeed aimed at manufacturers rather than coffee shops and food retailers. I should know as I was consulted on sugar metabolism and other issues some time before the tax became headline news. I can tell you that there are major potential problems in attempting to extend the tax to coffee shop drinks that you cite.

Where would we stop with this? Do you consider that a cafe should somehow pay the sugar tax because it provides sugar dispensers on the tables? How would the tax be implemented in this case? How far off would such action be from taxing the 1 Kg bags of sugar we come home with from the supermarket? Would you find it acceptable to deny your neighbour a second teaspoon of sugar in the coffee you've provided when he/she pops round based purely on the cost of that teaspoon of sugar?

You need to keep a sense of perspective over sugar consumption. It'll continue to be your call for some considerable time and rightly so as governments do consider that the average consumer is blessed with some degree of common sense.

[Mamyalynne]

I feel, that for pre-made pre -sweetened flavoured coffee and other drinks the establishment should make the amount of sugar clear.

They may well do that now, not places I frequent.

Then the customer has the choice of which to purchase.

[theprof]

Mamyalynne, I couldn't agree more. It should be compulsory for every one of them to declare the sugar content of their beverages. We have umpteen branches of all the major chains at uni and every one of them displays nutrition information for the consumer to see. Similarly, I've seen the same in shopping centres etc when MrsProf drags me off for a coffee during shopping.

I do have reservations regarding tasting the product to judge its sugar content though. In the US, it's not uncommon for chains to sweeten their coffee using a mixture of sugar and natural or artificial sweeteners. Stevia for example is difficult to detect in coffee when mixed with sugar yet it has about 280 times the sweetness of sugar depending on the glycoside content (Wikipedia, is out of date folks!)
It may well be in use in the UK as well.

[Mamyalynne]

Some of those on the table in the link I provided sound so sickly to me, I don't really have a swee tooth.

I guess once in a while as a treat but to drink those often has to be bad in some way for you.

Glad the info is out there anyway, thanks for that.

[Hopkirk]

If people are idiotic enough to buy this muck, then a few extra pennies in tax won't be a deterrent.

[THECORBYLOON]

"If it were really a health issue mandary figures would need to be clearly shown on the product, and the public educated as to both reasonable and unhealthy levels."

What about something like a traffic lights system, red for "high", amber for "medium" and green for "low" levels?

How about a wee table showing information including the sugar content per 100g/100ml and the percentage of the maximum daily amount the content represents?

[jno]

why not update Wikipedia yourself, the prof?

[theprof]

I don't waste my time jno. I corrected a page about organotin(IV)carboxylates on a Wikipedia page discussing anti-tumour compounds a few years ago. This led to a total idiot emerging from cyberspace who took it upon himself to "correct" my page entry using reasons that were full of fundamental flaws and very basic understanding of the subject matter. As soon as I corrected his amendments, he changed the text back to his version.

It was puerile. I'm not infallible and I've been a professor of both Organic Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry before moving to Biochemistry so I know a teenzy weenzy bit about the subject involved. Nowadays, I tend not to bother with corrections as I can guarantee someone would change my Stevia figure to around the 30-200 that seems to appear everywhere on the web. Me, I know different as I have the up to date academic resources at my fingertips daily.