Berkeley bans junk food items at grocery store checkout aisles with nation’s initially ‘healthy checkout’ ordinance

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) — Berkeley is set to turn into the to start with city in the condition — and perhaps the country– to move an ordinance removing foods large in sugar and sodium from the checkout line at grocery shops.

The Berkeley Metropolis Council unanimously passed the “balanced checkout” ordinance Tuesday night time.

The evaluate is established to get result in March 2021, with enforcement starting Jan 2022.

“We’re not declaring you won’t be able to have these products. We are just stating they’re not going to be ideal at the eye level of your kids when they walk into the retailer and you might be waiting around in that prolonged line at test out,” said District 3 Council Member Kate Harrison.

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Starting in March, only items with 5 grams of extra sugar or a lot less and have significantly less than 250 milligrams of sodium per serving will be permitted at the checkout aisle.

Feel protein bars in its place of candy bars and no-sugar-extra juice as an alternative of soda.

“We know that folks that take in a good deal of substantial-sugar and salty items have even worse health and fitness results and this significantly besets low cash flow communities and persons of shade,” Harrison said.

When some are in favor of the move many others query if there requires to be bigger schooling.

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“Portion of it is not providing folks a untrue sense of accomplishing one thing wherever definitely the concern could be neighborhood instruction, generating sure children in schools are eating the right way and have access to meals,” reported Joseph Azam. “That things issues much more to me than rearranging groceries at the checkout stand.”

Berkeley was the initially in the nation to pass a soda tax in 2014.