SEPANG (Aug 26): The proposed introduction of nutri-grade system for food and drinks will be tabled at the Cabinet soon, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.

He added that the system was part of the Health Ministry’s (MOH) plans to reduce non-commutable diseases among Malaysians.

“This is between four to five programmes we’ve planned under the War on Sugar campaign. Insya-Allah, it will be tabled at the Cabinet meeting soon.

“We will implement [grade of drinks with sugar content] after obtaining approval,” he said at a media conference to launch the Santan ‘Club Zero’ campaign here on Monday, which was also attended by Deputy Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Fuziah Salleh, Capital A Bhd chief executive officer (CEO) Tan Sri Tony Fernandes and Santan CEO Catherine Goh.

On excise duties on sugar drinks introduced by the government on July 1, 2019, he said the latest data showed a reduction of 9.25% in purchases of sweet food and drinks in the country.

“We have evidence that our study shows this figure’s reduction. And, there are more to comes on some of good approaches on ‘War on Sugar’ campaign. Soon we will unveil this,” Dr Dzulkefly said.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had announced the increase in excise duty for sugar drinks from 40 sen to 50 sen a litre effective 2024 while presenting the Budget 2024 on Oct 13 last year.

Earlier, in his speech, Dr Dzulkefly praised Santan for organising the "Club Zero" campaign, which he described as the first innovative campaign in the country.

“MOH will be the first to support you to succeed with this campaign. What important is, Santan is leading for this initiative and I hope more company will start this kind of initiative in supporting MOH mission in addressing obesity and overweight among the nation,” he said. 

"Club Zero" is a campaign to promote the reduction of sugar in food and drinks to AirAsia passengers run by Santan, a Capital A subsidiary, and involves cooperation between Santan with Secret Recipe and Tealive, that offers a choice of six drinks and a cake with low sugar content.

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