Study on Sodium Taxes in Countries with Such Measures and Potential Recommendations for Singapore

46 Dr Lim Wee Kiak asked the Minister for Health (a) whether he can provide an update on the Government's study on sodium taxes in countries where such measures have been implemented; (b) when will recommendations on potential policy changes arising from this study be put out; and (c) how does the Government intend to ensure that efforts to address sodium overconsumption do not inadvertently lead to increased business overhead costs and higher food prices.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health (Ms Rahayu Mahzam) (for the Minister for Health): Mr Speaker, the Health Promotion Board (HPB)'s National Nutrition Survey 2022 showed that our intake of sodium is excessively high, which significantly increases the risk for hypertension, which can lead to diseases such as heart attack, stroke and kidney failure. We need to cut down on our consumption of sodium urgently.

Other countries have faced similar challenges and the Ministry of Health (MOH) has studied what they have done. Chile has implemented regulations in 2016 to require food and drinks high in sugar, salt and saturated fat to have a warning label. You can find such warning labels on soft drinks, sauces, processed meats and so on, in Chile. Finland has also successfully used food labelling laws to reduce salt consumption over the past three decades. Hungary went further, as beyond identifying food items which have unhealthy levels of salt and sugar, it imposes a tax on it.

These are useful practices for us to learn from, but we do not intend to emulate any of these systems. For example, our Nutri-grade labelling measures for pre-packaged beverages has been very effective in bringing down sugar consumption. We should likewise tackle excessive sodium consumption in a way that is suited to our context.

In many European and Western countries, their main source of sodium is processed foods which households buy from shops or supermarkets. In Singapore, sodium comes mainly from added salt, sauces and seasonings, such as soya sauce, dark sauce, fish sauce and chili sauce, and we consume them most when we eat out.

A key priority is therefore to work with the manufacturers of salt and sauces. Today, HPB offers grant support to salt and sauce suppliers to reformulate their products, through the Healthier Ingredient Development Scheme (HIDS). As a result, lower-sodium alternatives are now more accessible. Today, the wholesale price of most lower-sodium salt, sauces and seasonings supplied to food operators are comparable to that of regular versions. To date, HPB has garnered the commitment of 15 major manufacturers and food operators, representing over 30% of the retail market for sauces and seasonings and 10% of the F&B market share, to increase the variety and demand of lower-sodium ingredients.

The other stakeholder to engage are food operators such as hawkers, restaurants, caterers and chefs to promote the adoption of lower-sodium ingredients. We will have to explain to them the need to cut our sodium intake, introduce them to lower-sodium ingredients, as well as provide them with samples that they can try out so that we can get them to use these products. We also hope that they will help us explain to the public that salt is an acquired taste and that if we over-consume it over some time, our taste buds will get accustomed to it and fail to taste other natural ingredients. We are planning a series of engagement sessions with them, including with the industry and professional associations.

Finally, HPB will also be stepping up its public education campaign. In Singapore, less salt often means more taste as it allows us to appreciate the natural flavours of the herbs, spices and other ingredients typically used in local cuisine. HPB will continue to educate Singaporeans on the need to cut sodium, increase their receptiveness to using lower-sodium ingredients and change the perception that we need more salt and sauces for flavourful dishes. It will conduct more activities, such as food sampling activities at supermarkets.

Mr Speaker: Dr Lim.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang): Sir, I thank the Senior Parliamentary Secretary the reply. I would like to check what is the price differential now between potassium salt versus sodium salt currently in the market? I mean, after all the efforts that you have done, does HPB know what is the number of households that have switched over to potassium salt?

And on the impact on businesses, she mentioned a grant was given for the food processing businesses for them to use potassium salt for their products. How much grant has been issued and what are the plans to promote this scheme further, including to the households as well?

Ms Rahayu Mahzam: I thank the Member for the questions. I do not have the specific numbers and the data that the Member has requested. But if he so wishes, he can file another Parliamentary Question and I can provide information.

I want to explain that we are cognisant of the concerns of consumers, especially in relation to the cost, as we move to the lower -sodium products. And we actually take a multi-pronged approach and an upstream approach in this to ensure that various stakeholders are with us and therefore will help alleviate the issues of cost.

Firstly, as I mentioned, the HPB has been offering grant support to suppliers to reformulate their products through the HIDS and this includes salt and sauce suppliers. With this grant, the wholesale prices of low-sodium salt, low-sodium sauces have actually reduced. Actually, all of the low-sodium salt is comparable now with the regular salt and half of the low-sodium sauces supplied in the market are comparable to the prices of the regular products. And now, we are still working on how we can enhance existing schemes further so that we can narrow this price differential even further especially for the low-sodium sauces as compared to the regular sauces.

Secondly, we are also now involving the different suppliers on board to supply the lower-sodium salt to the food sectors and actually, in total, these three suppliers supply close to half of the food service salt market share. That includes 250 hawkers, coffeeshops and food courts island-wide, as well as about 150 caterers that are already using the lower-sodium products. So, if there is anything to go by, these are healthy numbers which show growing appreciation and support for these efforts, and HPB has also garnered the commitment of major manufacturers and leaders in the food service sector to reduce sodium in their products and their food. So, this I think is something that we are going to continue to build on.

The third prong of this effort is, of course, our public education and that is important because it is not just the upstream and the supply but also public. So, there is going to be efforts that we are going to be complementing. As I mentioned earlier, there are going to be campaigns. There has been actually a campaign, and this is a multi-year public education campaign to raise awareness of the effects of high sodium intake, educate public on the available lower-sodium alternatives and ways to actually replace salt totally without compromising on taste. So, we are looking at a multi-pronged upstream effort, which we hope will then change the ecosystem and have everybody on board in this effort.

Mr Speaker: Dr Lim Wee Kiak.

Dr Lim Wee Kiak: Thank you, Sir. As a follow-up question – will the food labelling of low-sodium food products and sauces be made mandatory? Or the other way around: will high-sodium food warning signs and labels be made mandatory?

Ms Rahayu Mahzam: As how we had approached it with the lower sugar effort, I think we are going to look at the market and see how we can do this better. It will probably come in phases because, as the Member knows, we need to prepare the operators and the providers as well. So, this is something that we will announce as we roll it out and hopefully, we bring the whole community with us on this.

Mr Speaker: Ms He Ting Ru.

Ms He Ting Ru (Sengkang): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Just one supplementary question based on the Senior Parliamentary Secretary's answer. I just wanted to check, the Senior Parliamentary Secretary mentioned this grant that is made available to producers to introduce alternatives or manufacturing processes to lower the sodium input into the products and the food that eventually comes out. I am just wondering what is the uptake rate of this scheme? How many producers have actually been granted and what is the size of the average grants, and what are the efforts to be made to encourage more producers to take up this grant in order to reformulate some of the manufacturing processes?

Ms Rahayu Mahzam: Thank you for the question. As I explained to Dr Lim earlier, I do not have the specific numbers and data here and I will be happy to answer the question if the Member files an additional question. But earlier, I also alluded to the different numbers and the different parties that we have been working with and the uptake on that front. We are continuing in these efforts.

I think this is all hands on deck and a multi-pronged approach, upstream approach on this. If we do work with the suppliers, the costs then need not be transferred to the hawkers, to the restaurants, all consumers will also not be affected.

So, I hope that something is that we can get Members to also continue to share and encourage – these are different groups that we are talking about. We are working upstream, but at the same time, we also need the community to avail themselves to some of these products. Because as you know, when there is a higher demand for healthier food, for low-sodium options, this will also encourage the food service providers to move towards this direction. So, I hope that there will be a whole-of-community support in this effort.