From end-2021, pre-packaged non-alcoholic drinks with a high sugar or saturated fat content will be required to display a nutrition label with grades from “A” to “D”, with “D” being the unhealthiest.
Retailers will also be banned from advertising grade “D” drinks on all media platforms.
The same measures will next be applied to freshly prepared drinks, such as those from bubble tea and smoothie chains.
These moves, announced on 5 March by Senior Minister of State for Health Edwin Tong – along with the installation of more water dispensers in public spaces to coax people to drink plain water – are part of Singapore’s war on diabetes.
About 19,000 people here are diagnosed with diabetes annually.
Mr Tong elaborated on the rules on labelling and advertising restrictions.
Known as “Nutri-Grade”, the nutrient summary label will have four colour-coded grades from green to red, with letters reflecting the sugar and saturated fat content. The sugar content will also be displayed.
Drinks with “A”, the healthiest grade, must have 1g or less of sugar and 0.7g or less of saturated fat per 100ml, and contain no sweetener. These include water and unsweetened teas.
Drinks with “D”, the unhealthiest grade, have more than 10g of sugar or 2.8g of saturated fat per 100ml. These include soft drinks and energy drinks.
The rating is accorded to the highest content of the ingredients. For instance, a drink with less than 1g of sugar but more than 2.8g of saturated fat would be rated “D” despite its low sugar content.
The label is mandatory for drinks with a “C” or “D” grade. Advertising of grade “D” drinks will be permitted at retail points of sale, but nowhere else.
Small businesses with one or two stalls, like those in hawker centres, will not be affected by the regulations initially, but this may change as the situation develops, he said.
To give consumers a healthier alternative, the Government has been increasing the number of water dispensers across the island. By the middle of this year, water dispensers will be available at all hawker centres here, as well as more than a dozen bus interchanges and terminals.
Read more here.
Source: The Straits Times, 6 March 2020