Foods high in sugar, salt, saturated fat and artificial sweeteners could soon carry consumer warning labels, and South Africa’s sugar industry and food manufacturers fear this will hurt sales, profits and jobs.
Thomas Funke, chief executive of SA Cangrowers, said the proposed labeling regulations are a lose-lose proposition because there is no consensus on whether labels actually change consumer behavior, reduce sugar consumption and decrease health problems such as obesity.
“This means that food manufacturers could incur significant costs to implement these regulations without any potential benefit to society,” Funke said.
“On the other hand, if the regulations work, they will directly reduce the income of the country’s sugar industry, and therefore small producers in South Africa.”
The health department released the draft Regulations Regarding the Labeling and Advertising of Food Products earlier this year and made the document available to the public until July 21.
The draft rule proposes that any prepackaged foods that are high in sugar and fat come with warning labels known as front-of-package labeling. Other amendments reinforce existing rules for product packaging, such as ingredient lists and expiration dates.
Funke said research by the Office of Food and Agricultural Policy showed that if the regulations cut sugar demand by 150,000 tons, the country would lose more than 25,710 hectares of sugarcane.
Most of the lost hectares would be in KwaZulu-NatalNorth coast of , where the Tongaat Hulett agricultural processing business is located business bailoutwhich has had a negative effect on sugar cane growers.
Tongaat Hulett went into corporate bailout in October as he struggled to pay off his debts. Another sugar mill, Gledhow, started a business bailout earlier this year.
“The sugar industry is working to diversify the sugarcane value chain beyond sugar production to ensure its long-term sustainability and profitability.
“However, this is extremely challenging within the context of job elimination policies such as the Health Promotion Tax (sugar tax) and proposed new regulations for food labeling.
“Instead, we need policies and investments that encourage the diversification project, so that producers can produce products other than sugar and, in this way, ensure the survival of the sector in the long term,” Funke said.
He health promotion rate in sugary drinks was introduced on April 1, 2018 to give effect to health policies put in place to counter the rise in diabetes, obesity and other health problems in South Africa.
“The national government has not yet conducted the dietary intake study proposed by the sugar industry to determine which particular factors are contributing to the country’s obesity rate.
“The sugar industry remains committed to working with the government to introduce a holistic plan to address obesity levels and encourage healthier lifestyles while protecting the sector and the million livelihoods it supports,” Funke said.
In terms of affected employment if the new regulations are passed, Funke said the industry could lose up to 9,600 permanent jobs and 15,000 temporary jobs over the next 10 years. This is more than the 6,000 permanent jobs and 9,600 seasonal jobs that the sugar industry projects to lose over the next decade as a result of the rescue of two millers in the business and the effects of flooding, freight outage and high input costs.
But according to Angelika Peczak, nutrition program manager for the Heala civil society coalition, the sugar industry would always argue that such regulations would hurt their profits and employment.
“I know that (the Wits Center for Health Economics and Decision Science) has done research to see how the sugar industry was affected in terms of employment, because the industry makes the argument that a lot of jobs were lost when imposed the sugar tax. implemented, but it has actually been refuted,” Peczak told the Mail & Guardian.
“At the end of the day, we also need to remember that the industry is doing well. The industry is there to make a profit because they are business: they don’t necessarily have the best interest of the consumer in mind; their interest is, unfortunately, the business model”.
Chile was used as a case study for the implementation of the warning labels, according to Peczak, because the South American country had some success using it.
“What (the department) saw in Chile is that even though they have been successful in decreasing the amount of unhealthy products that consumers buy, they have also seen that it has not really affected the earnings, wages and employment of the industry.
“That’s really good news, because they’re doing the public good,” he said.
In 2016, Chile implemented the mandatory use of front-of-package warning labels on foods and beverages that are high in energy, sugar, saturated fat, and sodium to tackle its obesity epidemic. Additionally, such foods may not be sold or offered in schools and may not be marketed to children under 14 years of age.
according to a study by the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, at the time of the implementation of the regulations in Chile, obesity and diet-related diseases had reached epidemic proportions.
One in four school-age children between the ages of six and seven and one-third of the adult population, anyone over the age of 15, were found to be obese. A high body mass index and diet-related risk factors were the leading cause of premature death and disability in the country.
Peczak said that while other countries were used for information, the bill is based on South African research.
“They have looked at the South African products, they have looked at the South African data. They have even tested the warning labels on South African consumers.”
A study of Wits University discovered that in September 2022, 27% of South African adults were obese and the cost of obesity to the healthcare system for ages 15 and up was R33 billion per year. This represents 15.38% of public spending on health. The annual cost per person for overweight and obese people was R2 769.
Most of the 33 billion rand bill comes from treating diabetes (19.86 billion rand) and cardiovascular disease (8.87 billion rand).
Other investigation has found that South Africa has one of the highest obesity rates in the world, with a projected increase of 47.7% in women and 23.3% in men by 2025.
‘He realized that it was necessary to have certain regulations that can help protect the public from non-communicable diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes and obesity.
“Regulations, particularly the implementation of warning labels, will also help people realize that there are many foods that actually make them sick,” Peczak said.
She said that in the past, food labels have been misleading, so the draft regulations propose that manufacturers be barred from placing another claim on a product that has a warning label because it has a nutrient of concern. .
For example, the front-of-pack label will say “high in sugar,” so the same product cannot have a “good for the environment” claim because this could confuse the consumer.
South Africa’s largest food producer, Tiger Brands, said that in its current format, the draft regulation proposed sweeping changes to the packaging design of certain consumer products that, if implemented, would negatively affect some of its brands and composition. of some of your food and drinks
“Implementing any labeling changes will come at a cost. Additionally, any changes to product formulation and mandatory redesign of product branding, advertising and communication will have additional cost implications that have yet to be quantified,” Tiger Brands said in response to questions from M&G.
The company said it was still reviewing the draft regulations and also looking at how labeling regulations have been implemented in other countries “so that we can extract applicable learning, including the impact on positive consumer behaviour.”