COUNTING COST OF CALORIES
PRICE, not calorie labelling, is what sways Queenslanders’ choice of fast food.
New research, which shows that a fat tax on junk products is likely to have an impact on the obesity crisis, will be presented to the Australasian Society of Behavioural and Health Medicine and APS College of Health Psychologists conference this week on the Gold Coast.
Legislation was introduced in March for mandatory nutritional menu labelling.
The new paper from the Department of Psychology at Bond University found that regardless of whether a label outlined the calorie loading or included the physical activity needed to burn off the kilojoules, it was simply low prices that had the most appeal.
“Governments are likely to face the same issues with fat tax that they did with cigarette tax. It is not a popular option but these early findings show that ... once people have joined the queue ... cheap prices are the big drawcard,” researcher Brett Carter said.
Alyssa Gasparrini, 18, from Brisbane said: “I’m on a budget so yes, I do try to buy the cheaper items.”