The European soft drinks industry has recently announced that it will be accelerating the speed and scale of its added-sugars reduction efforts to deliver a further 10% reduction from 2015-2020.
Sigrid Ligné, Director General, UNESDA Soft Drinks Europe, discusses the number of reasons the soft drinks industry has been prompted to triple reduction efforts.
OUR sector has been on this added sugars reduction journey since the 1970s when the first no and low-calorie drinks were introduced, and we have already reduced calories by 12% since 2000. Reducing added sugars in our products addresses changing consumer preferences. Our customers are more conscious than ever about their sugar and calorie intake. We support the views of the world’s leading health authorities that people should control their added sugars intake – and that includes sugar from soft drinks. In soft drinks reducing added sugars leads directly to reduced calories and our sector is committed to playing its part in reducing overall calorie consumption in order to address overweight and obesity.
Reducing added sugars an aggregate 10% across Europe will impact over 500 million consumers. Added sugars reduction also responds to the EU call for reformulation and sugar reduction across the food industry. We endorse the EU Roadmap for Action on Food Product Improvement and are proud to be the first sector to respond to the EU Added Sugar Annex and its 10% sugar reduction target. We fully support Commissioner Andriukaitis’ ambition that all sectors must play their part and are honoured that he has responded positively to our initiative. We hope that others will follow suit in order to generate critical mass.
Source: www.newfoodmagazine.com