It was on Thursday that New York City Health Department first to forbid the sale of sugared beverages larger than 16 oz. at restaurants, mobile food carts, sports arenas and movie theaters.
It’s a bold experiment in the anti-obesity campaign, and while it’s widely supported by health professionals, it’s not popular with food retailers or most city residents.
The ban would prevent retailers who sell prepared food from also dispensing sugared beverages, including sodas and sweetened tea, in cups or containers larger than 16 oz. That’s smaller than your standard single-serve soda (typically 20 oz.), which you’ll no longer find at fast-food restaurants or cafeterias. Grocery stores and convenience stores, including 7-Eleven, which sells the jumbo-sized Big Gulp, would be exempt from the law, however. And the ban would not apply to fruit juices, alcoholic beverages, diet sodas or dairy-based drinks like milkshakes.
The activity was proposed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has a reputation for taking aggressive steps to improve city residents’ health. Often criticized for creating a nanny state, Bloomberg has been at the forefront of finding innovative, if controversial ways of nudging people to make healthier choices. Since he took office more than a decade ago, New York has become the first city to require chain restaurants to post calorie counts on their menus (the move prompted a federal law that compelled all fast food retailers in the nation to do the same) and to ban trans fats from restaurant foods. Bloomberg also banned public smoking from most corners of the city and more recently pushed hospitals to keep baby formula locked up in order to encourage breast-feeding in new moms.
It’s a bold experiment in the anti-obesity campaign, and while it’s widely supported by health professionals, it’s not popular with food retailers or most city residents.
The ban would prevent retailers who sell prepared food from also dispensing sugared beverages, including sodas and sweetened tea, in cups or containers larger than 16 oz. That’s smaller than your standard single-serve soda (typically 20 oz.), which you’ll no longer find at fast-food restaurants or cafeterias. Grocery stores and convenience stores, including 7-Eleven, which sells the jumbo-sized Big Gulp, would be exempt from the law, however. And the ban would not apply to fruit juices, alcoholic beverages, diet sodas or dairy-based drinks like milkshakes.
The activity was proposed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has a reputation for taking aggressive steps to improve city residents’ health. Often criticized for creating a nanny state, Bloomberg has been at the forefront of finding innovative, if controversial ways of nudging people to make healthier choices. Since he took office more than a decade ago, New York has become the first city to require chain restaurants to post calorie counts on their menus (the move prompted a federal law that compelled all fast food retailers in the nation to do the same) and to ban trans fats from restaurant foods. Bloomberg also banned public smoking from most corners of the city and more recently pushed hospitals to keep baby formula locked up in order to encourage breast-feeding in new moms.
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