THE levels of Value Added Tax (Vat) on food and drink should be reviewed by the government in order to tackle Ireland’s obesity epidemic, a taskforce is to recommend.

While a nil or low rate of tax applies to a range of fast and convenience foods, healthier fare and some diet meals are hit with the maximum rate of 21%, the National Task Force on Obesity will point out.

But the group, established last year by Micheal Martin, the then health minister, is to stop short of recommending that the government impose a “fat tax” on junk food.

A member of the task force said yesterday: “There will be no fat tax. It would be impossible to implement and will only lead to an unhelpful stand-off between those who want to fight obesity and the powerful food industry.

“What we have pointed out, however, are the huge anomalies that exist in the rates of Vat applied to a broad range of food and drinks that lead to obesity.

“A 0% Vat rate is applied to frozen chips and pizzas, meat pies, pastries and beefburgers, yet 21%, the highest rate, is levied on bottled water and tomato juice, which are healthy options. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

The taskforce, which will report next month, will also ask a range of government departments, including finance, education, social and family affairs and transport, to “obesity proof” its policies in future.

It will recommend that a doubling of the time dedicated to physical education in Irish schools. Most primary schools give only an hour a week to PE, although international experts recommend this amount of exercise for children each day.

Blood samples are to be taken from 1,000 primary school children and sugar levels examined as part of the largest research project on childhood obesity in Ireland. An obesity blood bank will identify which small children are at risk of developing morbid obesity and related health complications including early onset or Type II diabetes.

The study will be undertaken by Niall Moyna, a senior lecturer in exercise physiology at Dublin City University. He said: “We need serious political vision to stem this epidemic.”

Ireland’s multi-million food industry, which has representatives on the taskforce, said it will resist any attempts by the government to place additional taxes on “problem” foods. The government already levies a 21% Vat rate on fizzy drinks and popular snacks including sweets, biscuits, chocolates and crisps.

Rosemary Garth, who represents Ibec, the food industry and employers’ lobby group, on the taskforce, said: “We already apply the highest rate of Vat to so-called luxury goods such as cakes and biscuits. High tax has not reduced consumption. What we need to tackle is lifestyles, not food companies.”

The fast food industry is likely to oppose any increases on the 13.5% Vat rate applied to take-away meals such as pizzas and fish and chips.

The Irish are a nation of junk food junkies, with consumption of crisps alone running at twice the European average. Almost €300m was spent on confectionery last year, according to a recent report from Datamonitor, the market analyst.

“We are facing an alarming epidemic,” said Jane Wilde, who represents the Institute of Public Health on the task force. It estimates that Ireland’s obesity epidemic is costing the state €370m a year in health charges.

“Obesity is a multi-faceted problem that won’t be cured by one single initiative. We have to ask, are taxes and fiscal policy geared towards better public health? Families, especially on lower incomes, have to be able to buy healthy foods at a price they can afford. Often, healthy foods are out of people’s economic range.”

Yesterday Sean Power, the junior health minister who is in charge of the government’s response to obesity, said: “Nothing has been ruled out. The government will take the taskforce’s recommendations very seriously.”

Last year, the International Obesity TaskForce warned the government that up to a third of Irish children are either overweight or obese. Obesity levels have tripled since 1990, and the number of overweight children has doubled.

More than 100 obese children are being treated at the growth, diabetes and endocrinology unit at the National Children’s hospital in Tallaght. It is the first clinic dedicated to paediatric obesity in Ireland.

“It’s too late when these kids are dying in their twenties, long before their parents,” said Moyna.

Results are expected soon from a national children’s food survey, a joint research initiative between Trinity College Dublin and University College Cork.

The five-year survey, carried out on 600 children aged five to 12 throughout Ireland, will be the most detailed investigation into children’s eating and activity levels yet undertaken in the country.

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