Is the government delaying the publication of a damning report on the difference in the level of added sugar in food between abroad and the mainland? In any case, this is what Canard Enchainé claims. The authorities seem to be turning a blind eye to the regulations.
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For a year and a half, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Control, has been raiding foreign supermarkets to verify that the levels of added sugar in beverages and food comply with those established in France Hexagonale.
Remember, in 2013, Victorin Lurel and Helène Vainqueur-Christophe initiated a law aimed at ending the practice of manufacturers incorporating astronomical amounts of sugar into products sold abroad under the pretext of pleasing their consumers with good taste. At that time, the fruit yogurts had between 27 and 50% more sugar than the same brands offered in France Hexagonale. The same goes for the soft drink department, where the difference in sugar could be as high as 40%.
For the parliamentarians, it was beneficial for foreigners to put an end to these practices and to regulate very firmly the sugar level of products made in France, but destined for consumption in overseas territories. Therefore, the law had the ambition to guarantee the quality of the food supply in the French overseas territories.
A difficult application
But the legislative device has not really made industrialists tremble. In 2019, a report by the Development Research Institute questions the lack of statistical monitoring on the application of this law, and also notes that the soft drinks sold in Guadeloupe and Martinique contain 2 grams of sugar more per 100 ml than anywhere else. more in France.
The report is so damning that the government is reportedly seeking to postpone its release until at least the end of the year. Much to the chagrin of Victorin Lurel, who asked Bruno Le Maire not to bury the fire. In a press release dated August 27, 2021 and co-signed by Hélène Vainqueur-Chistophe, he recalls that this neglect weakens the health of Guadeloupeans and foreigners in general, at a time when they are strongly affected by an epidemic wave of Covid-19, with the consequences that this induces in terms of hospital care.
🔎The @canardenchaine reveals that the government is trying to bury a “damning” report on the application of the sugar law abroad. With @HWinner we ask @BrunoLeMaire go public and sanction fraudulent companies. The state must respect the law pic.twitter.com/W1qfrKgmc9
– Victorin LUREL (@VictorinLurel) August 27, 2021
In fact, this laissez-faire is not without consequences for the health of grocers. 11% of Guadeloupe and 14% of Réunion suffer from diabetes mellitus, a rate two to three times higher than in mainland France.
The obesity rate in the West Indies is 27.8% compared to 14.5% in the rest of France.
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