On Saturday, Denmark began implementing a “fat tax” its legislators passed in March.
According to The Associated Press, they already have a ban on trans fat and a higher tax on sugar, chocolate and soft drinks, but their new tax would up the cost for fatty foods, based on the percentage of saturated fat in the product.
Food director at Denmark’s Confederation of Industries, Ole Linnet Juul, told the AP that the tax would raise the cost of a burger by about $0.15 USD and the cost of a small package of butter by $0.40 USD.
The tax is a result of Denmark’s health conscious officials’ effort to raise the life expectancy rate among Danes, as saturated fat is believed to cause heart disease and cancer, as well as diabetes and obesity.
The news has the rest of the Western world self-consciously checking its girlish figure in the mirror. After all, Denmark is already one of the fittest countries in Europe and even the world, while the U.S. is by far the fattest country in the world, with nearly one obese American for every two in shape, according to Nation Master.
Should the U.S. shape up and follow suit? It is probably not a coincidence that people eat healthier in countries where fast food is expensive and it is actually cheaper to eat fresher, healthier foods — where farmers’ markets are the norm and not a social novelty.
The problem is also a culture issue. While some countries take pride and pleasure in their food — devoting a significant amount of time preparing and eating it — we tend to treat it as an inconvenience, always gauging efficiency and worth.
We all eat fatty, salty foods — but some savor a bite of rich foie gras at the dinner table while other scarf down a greasy cheeseburger on the drive home from work.
It is a matter of values and principles. Fortunately, if our values are making us fat right now, perhaps we can change some of the variables in the equation. If what we decide to eat is merely a function of convenience, perhaps we need to change our definition of fast food.
So why is it so much more expensive to eat healthy and so cheap to eat poorly? We can stuff ourselves full of pizza and wings every night of the week for a fraction of the cost it would take to shop at Whole Foods.
Add in the time it takes to prepare fresh salmon and steamed vegetables, then clean up and do the dishes? Forget it.
Our culture demands efficiency and productivity when it comes to food. We have to financially punish the people who feed us poison for such a bargain, by passing legislation to tax fatty foods, far more than Demark has already done, and thus incentivize Ron McDonald to efficiently feed us healthier foods or pay the price.
We already severely tax tobacco and alcohol because of their public heath implications — it is high time to add fat to the list.
Gone are the days when simply advocating for individual regulation was a reasonable option.
Reach the columnist at djoconn1@asu.edu
Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
