EU food and drinks producers have criticised a reported plan by the European Commission to introduce levies on alcopops and ultra-processed foods.
Under its upcoming Cardiovascular Health Plan, the Commission is reportedly set to propose the introduction of taxes by 2026.
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According to a draft of the plan, seen by Euractiv but not by Just Drinks, EU health commissioner Olivér Várhelyi is looking to bring in “EU-wide levies on highly processed, high fat, sugar and salt foods and alcopops in 2026”.
EU-wide trade body FoodDrinkEurope hit out at the idea. “If the leaked document on the European Commission’s CVD plan remains as drafted, then it seems that science-based policy is dead, and the MAHA movement has effectively come to Europe,” the association said.
“Public authorities across Europe, including the UK, Nordic countries, and France, all reject the use of the ‘ultra-processed food’ concept as a basis for developing public health policy because it lacks scientific consensus, is imprecise and confusing, and it risks undermining existing public health efforts.
“Then to line up taxes to those so-called ‘ultra-processed’ foods and drinks just compounds the problem. Discriminatory food taxes can have unintended effects, such as adding to consumer food bills or leading consumers to substitute products without the intended health improvement.”
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By GlobalDataThe Commission refused to be drawn on the details of the heart health plan when approached by Just Drinks, noting it did not comment “on leaked documents”.
The EU is due to announce its heart health plan by the end of this year. As part of the draft plan, the Commission has also set specific health targets for 2035, which include cutting cardiovascular mortality by 20%.
The World Health Organisation recently called on countries to raise prices of alcohol and sugary drinks, which it deems to be “harmful products”.
In July, the group announced a new initiative, called ‘3 by 35’ initiative, through which it urged countries worldwide to increase prices by at least 50% through health taxes by 2035.
A month earlier, Italy again pushed back plans to introduce a tax on sugary drinks. The sugar tax, which was originally due to be applied at the start of 2020, will now not be applied until January. It was the eighth delay to the levy.
In April, the UK government called for consultation on proposals to widen the country’s sugar tax on soft drinks and include milk-based drinks. The Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL), introduced in 2018, could be expanded to cover drinks with a lower sugar content and include milk-based and milk-substitute beverages, which have so far been exempt.
Meanwhile, a number of countries in Europe have brought in additional regulations on the advertising and sales of HFSS food and drink products.
In October, Norway brought into force a ban on the marketing of unhealthy food and drink products to children, such as soft drinks, energy drinks, sweets and ice cream.
The UK has also introduced a pre-watershed ban of HFSS adverts, due to come into force in January. Laws have also been in place since 2022 to restrict the sale of HFSS products at store entrances, checkouts and aisle ends, and legislation to restrict promotional sales also became effective in October.
France meanwhile has banned the unlimited sale of sugary drinks and those with artificial sweeteners in schools or places that cater to children since 2017.
The country also launched the Nutri-Score labelling system that same year. The color-coded system aims to offer consumers a ranking of the nutritional credentials of a product on a scale running from A to E. So far, six EU member states have adopted the Nutri-Score but it has not been introduced on a mandatory basis across the bloc.
