Heston Blumenthal slams UK’s ‘Sugar Tax’ and says it won’t stop obesity

Steve Hawkes
APRIL 19, 2016
The Sun
Heston Blumenthal … believes the sugar tax is flawed.
BRITAIN’S sugar tax has been criticised by celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal — who said it won’t stop obesity.
The award-winning cook said it was pointless limiting the levy to soft drinks when other products such as yoghurts had has high a sugar content.
And he said the “kneejerk” tax would clobber low income families and confuse mums.
The 49-year-old said the Government should instead look to pour more money into educating the nation about healthy diets.
Speaking to LBC Radio, the chef said: “If you’re going to tax sugar, tax sugar, don’t tax drinks.
“It’s not the liquid that’s the problem but the sugar in it.
“Fruit juice has the same sugar as coke, pineapple has more and then there those little yoghurt packs.
“I just think about those people that are on low incomes, the families that have grown up on sugar.
“To put a tax on it is not going to stop somebody from being obese. It seems a bit kneejerk to me.”
The blast puts Heston Blumenthal on a collision course with Jamie Oliver — who punched the air with delight when the Chancellor announced the tax a month ago.
The soft drinks industry is still waiting for details of the Chancellor’s Budget Day pledge to slap a levy of up to 88 cents on a two-litre bottle of Coke.
Told about the threat of legal action, the Chancellor snapped: “Bring it on.”
A strategy to tackle spiralling levels of childhood obesity was expected before Christmas but has now been put back until after the EU Referendum.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt earlier this year described childhood obesity as a “national emergency”.
Great British Bake Off host Paul Hollywood told The Sun’s Fabulous mag this weekend that a tax “wasn’t the answer” for obesity crisis.
The TV celebrity said Jamie Oliver was right to be concerned but it was better to invest more in education.
He said: “I’ve seen kids walking to school with can of Red Bull at seven in the morning — that’s wrong.
“A fizzy drink was a treat for me when I was a kid.
“But I don’t think tax is the answer. You can tax as much as you want, but people will still buy it.”