Seven major drinks companies including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo will limit the sugar content of drinks they sell in Singapore, as part of the city-state’s campaign to fight diabetes.
Singapore is one of the first countries in Asia to target sugary drinks, bringing it in line with many Western nations that have sought to mitigate the health risks associated with sugar through measures such as taxes and warning labels.
Singapore’s ministry of health announced that the seven firms had signed an industry pledge to remove by 2020 drinks that contain more than 12 percent sugar from their portfolios of sugar-sweetened beverages.
As well as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, the companies include F&N Foods, Malaysia Dairy Industries, Nestle, Pokka [POKKA.UL] and Yeo Hiap Seng.
"In addition to this industry commitment, Coca-Cola Singapore is making an additional commitment to reduce the sugar content in our portfolio of sugar-sweetened beverages by 10 percent by 2020," Coca-Cola said in an email to Reuters.
It said it had been reducing sugar and calories across many of its brands, and offering more new drinks with low sugar content or no added sugar.
