The Vote - should we tax unhealthy food?

[joey pineapples]

Fat people should just pay more tax - problem solved

More than likely they would base this on a BMI so that would defeat a lot of people lifting weights to cut bodyfat. I think more than anything, processed foods need to be more tightly regulated and there needs to be a cap on how much sugar salt and fat can be added. Seems people have been conditioned over a period of time to accept sweeter/saltier and fattier foods with poorer quality of ingredients that fail to satisfy long term dietary needs. Look at how big energy drinks are getting :shock:

Also why are chicken nuggets twice the price of fish fingers? last time I checked fish is more expensive to buy unprocessed.

[FellowshipOfTheRon]

Fat people should just pay more tax - problem solved

More than likely they would base this on a BMI so that would defeat a lot of people lifting weights to cut bodyfat. I think more than anything, processed foods need to be more tightly regulated and there needs to be a cap on how much sugar salt and fat can be added. Seems people have been conditioned over a period of time to accept sweeter/saltier and fattier foods with poorer quality of ingredients that fail to satisfy long term dietary needs. Look at how big energy drinks are getting :shock:

Also why are chicken nuggets twice the price of fish fingers? last time I checked fish is more expensive to buy unprocessed.

re the fish fingers : if you buy them, just giving you a heads up to check the ingredients. so many i've seen are not even close to 30% actual fish and even then, it's processed fish so could be all kinds of fish parts. not sure why the nuggets would be more or less, they are also generally not made up of actual chicken meat for the most part either.

also re sugar, salt and fat... this is pretty much the formula of food lol. anywhere they come up with recipes the basic formula is something like fat + acid + salt and sugar for addictiveness.

rather unfortunate that BMI is still so highly regarded but more and more people are talking about 'body fat levels' these days so you never know, things could change for the better some day

not sure how you will be able to control things like how much sugar/salt can be added to foods. much of what we get is from overseas (especially when it comes to the cheaper processed junk) and we are such a small country i doubt we have enough influence to tip the scales on the matter globally

would be good of the food authority or whatever it is stepped up and controlled stuff like sizes of energy drinks... i saw 750ml at the super market just now and i guess there might even be 1litre out there, who the hell needs that much caffiene + that fake sweetener crap + all the other junk thats in there

[joey pineapples]

also re sugar, salt and fat... this is pretty much the formula of food lol. anywhere they come up with recipes the basic formula is something like fat + acid + salt and sugar for addictiveness.

That is the problem, they 'know' it's addictive and they have also changed the types they put in, like msg and high fructose corn syrup. Not saying that these things are bad for you, but they are the kinds of things you really don't want to eat in large quantities, just in case. It's a little like putting extra nicotine in ciggs, people are still going to smoke; it just makes it that much harder for them to give up or cut back. So rather than tax, tax, tax put a cap on the additives or at least subsidise the good stuff, which would most likely increase the demand and therefore raise the price anyway. Lot's of money to be made off of seasonal things