Govt urged to add sugar content label
Consumer New Zealand and the Dental Association are calling on the Government to back new rules to label added sugars in food and drinks.
Consumer NZ chief executive Sue Chetwin said manufacturers were not required to show the amount of added sugars in their products, making it difficult for consumers to know how much was in their food.
Dental Association spokesman Dr Rob Beaglehole said high-sugar diets were a huge factor in tooth decay.
‘‘Sugar consumption simply needs to decrease and clear labelling plays a part in this. The Dental Association has been calling for an icon on drinks indicating, in teaspoons, the amount of sugar in each drink,’’ he said.
A teaspoon of sugar weighs about 4 grams.
But the New Zealand Food and Grocery Council (FGC) said it was unnecessary to add a teaspoon measure because ‘‘sugars are sugars’’.
FGC chief executive Katherine Rich said food companies already list total sugars per 100 grams and per serving in products, and by law have to list sugar as an ingredient.
‘‘Listing-out added sugars as a subset of total sugars on a food label makes absolutely no difference.
‘‘Sugars are sugars, and nutrition experts will tell you our bodies metabolise sugars the same way, whether they are naturally present in ingredients, for example in fruits or milk, or added via table sugar,’’ Rich said.
University of Otago nutritional scientist Dr Lisa Te Morenga said that although all sugars were metabolised in the same way, naturally occurring sugars in fruits, vegetables and dairy products were often accompanied by protein, vitamins, and minerals.
‘‘Sugars that are added to foods and drinks as a sweetener just add calories,’’ she said.
‘‘I think labelling free sugars would be an excellent thing to do. Consumers find it difficult to understand all this rhetoric around sugars and this is definitely not helped by the sort of misleading nonsense put out by the Food and Grocery Council.’’
Te Morenga said fibre in fruits, vegetables and dairy could also slow down the digestion of sugar.
‘‘Sugary drinks are very rapidly digested because there’s nothing to break down.’’
Chetwin said a survey by Consumer NZ found 80 per cent of consumers want added sugars labelled on the ingredients list.