Efforts to promote health and prevent childhood obesity in Stockton, CA, were rewarded this week as city officials unanimously passed an ordinance to replace all default drink options in children’s “combo” meals with water and milk products. Title 5 of the Stockton Municipal Code mandates that restaurants with children’s meals only offer “water, sparkling water, or flavored water, with no added natural or artificial sweeteners… [and] milk or non-dairy milk alternatives.”
The decision received high praise from organizations such as the Public Health Advocates and the NAACP for helping make “the healthy choice the easy choice” and combatting the fast-food industry’s efforts to target their unhealthiest products towards children.
The Stockton ordinance adds another victory in the national campaign to reduce the intake of sugary beverages in both U.S. adults and children. On the other side of the country, Philadelphia is set to pass a “soda tax” of 1.5 cents per ounce on all diet and sugar-based sweetened drinks. Unlike other efforts that used a public health and obesity argument, Mayor Jim Kenney publicized the soda tax as a way to fund education improvement projects throughout the city. He hopes that the tax will not only generate income for public works, but will also lower sugar intake by discouraging people from buying soda for themselves and their families.
Opponents of this bill argue that Philadelphia’s new tax would negatively affect low-income households by raising the costs of a family product and causing lay-offs in the beverage industry among low-income workers. The bill also includes taxing diet sweetened drinks, something that has not been included in previous bills, and may impede efforts to move away from sugary sodas. Although the ultimate decision is up to the city council members, it is important for any public health policy to reflect the needs of its target population, and campaigns such as the ones in Stockton and Philadelphia are reminders that food policy makers all over the country can adopt a variety of strategies when working towards a common goal.
DASH-NY offers a number of food policy resources and web-based training seminars as part of New York State’s Advanced Prevention Project, with specific strategies for reducing sugar sweetened beverage consumption and leveraging policy for healthy food retail,