Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session
6420

HOUSE BILL NO.

AN ACT
PROTECTING AND PROMOTING PUBLIC HEALTH THROUGH
APPROPRIATE, TRANSPARENT AND EASILY COMPREHENSIBLE
LABELLING OF ALL PROCESSED AND SEMI-PROCESSED FOOD PRODUCTS
CONTAINING FREE SUGARS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Introduced by REPRESENTATIVE CONRADO M. ESTRELLA III

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill seeks to protect the public, especially the children, from the
dangers to their health of the unregulated consumption of free sugars that are
freely available in the market. According to the World Health Organization (WHO)
and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), free sugars are all
monosaccharides and disaccharides added to foods by manufacturers, cooks or
consumers as well as sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, and fruit juices.

‘The first danger of free sugars is its energy density given the (a)
concentration of calories in monosaccharides (single sugars) and disaccharides
(double sugars) and (b) the refining process through which most of these are
generated in such ways that fibers and other forms of roughage are removed
thereby isolating only sugary calories. While this density can help maintain a
positive energy balance, it “crowds out” markedly more nutritious foods that have
comparable levels of calories but with more fiber, minerals and essential
nutrients. This result in generally more unhealthy diets. A direct consequence of
the energy density of free sugars is that it makes it extremely easy for free sugar
consumers to greatly exceed their daily caloric requirement and put on weight
without gaining the desired essential nutrients.

‘The second danger of free sugars lie in their simplicity. Carbohydrates are
sugars that come in two (2) main forms - simple and complex. Simple
carbohydrates are free sugars that are rapidly digested and raise blood glucose
levels immediately. Complex carbohydrates or starches, on the other hand, are
comprised of longer chemical chains and thus, take longer to break down.


Regular consumption of free sugars cause glucose levels to behave erratically
(ce. spike and plummet), causing headaches and fatigue. More perniciously,
rapid drops in blood glucose levels “trick” the body into thinking that it is hungry,
thereby triggering the over consumption of calories and perpetuating a vicious
cycle (i.e. consume sugar, feel hungry, consume more sugar). This cycle
increases the tendency towards gaining weight.

‘The third danger is in how free sugars interact with our internal organs.
Free sugars are metabolized in the same way as alcohol (i.e. it converts sugars
into fat). Excessive consumption of free sugars greatly increases the risk of
developing complications including but not limited to fatty liver disease. Studies
point to the role of free sugars in increasing blood pressure through constricting
blood vessels via increasing insulin resistance. Both these issues contribute to
the risk of heart ailments. There is also a strong correlation between Type 2
diabetes and free sugars. While any direct causal relationship has yet to be
found, the pathway from the consumption of free sugars to diabetes is the over
consumption of calories. People can develop Type 2 diabetes through the
excessive consumption of calories which free sugars facilitate.

‘The fourth danger of free sugars is its addictive nature, Evidence shows
that free sugars is highly addictive as it develops and reinforces neurological
reward pathways. This means that it is extremely easy to fall into the
aforementioned pitfalls associated with excessive consumption of free sugars.
Not only are free sugars easy to incorporate into a diet, but they are also very
difficult to remove once they have been embedded through habit.

If alcohol and tobacco, which are viewed as addictive substances with
harmful side effects, are heavily regulated, then free sugars should be subject to
at least some level of governmental health regulation as well. The harmful effects
of free sugar are mostly unknown to the public because it is not subject to the
same scrutiny as alcohol and tobacco. The fact is that free sugars pose more
harm, especially to children, than alcohol and tobacco because they are widely
available and aggressively marketed to young children. Sugary breakfast cereals,
for example, are peddled as healthy options when, in fact, they are loaded with
free sugars.

The WHO recommends restricting sugar consumption to approximately
5% to 10% of total caloric intake. Given a baseline of 2000 calories, sugar
consumption should be 100 calories or not exceeding 200 calories. Given that
10 grams of sugar has approximately 40 calories, this implies that sugar
consumption should be capped at roughly a maximum of 50 grams.

While most products nowadays have nutrition labels, these labels are
incomprehensible to most consumers because of the usage of grams and kcal
which are alien terms to consumers. These terms are difficult to visualize and
contextualize that even if the nutrition facts indicate the amount of free sugars


present in grams and kcal, consumers cannot grasp just how much free sugars
there are.

Moreover, essential nutrition facts are NOT placed prominently (front and
center) in the packaging of food products, but are instead in small print placed
at the back or side of containers. This means that people are (a) not enabled to
sufficiently be informed and to understand the health implications of the
contents of the nutrition labels, and (b) they are not encouraged to look at
nutrition labels.

This bill aims to remedy the malaise in current nutrition labelling practice.
It seeks to warn the public of the dangers of over consumption of free sugars and
of products made of or containing them. It provides a viable alternative by
requiring that instead of grams and keal, the number of tablespoons of sugar per
serving (a more easily understandable way of providing information on free sugar
content of products) be indicated in front of the packaging. This makes it easier
to identify high-sugar products and enable consumers to make better informed
comparisons between and among products.

Further, to make it easier for consumers to flag high-sugar products, a
color-coded labelling scheme is proposed to be adopted, i.e. products with high
sugar content can have RED tablespoons (leveraging the color RED as a warning
sign), while low sugar products can have GREEN tablespoons. The colors are
dependent on the distance to the 100-gram limit suggested by the WHO.

Sugar labelling as proposed in this bill is not simply a pro-public health
measure. It is strongly a pro-children’s health measure because it seeks to
protect children from the real dangers of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure
and heart ailments that are the results of over consumption of free sugars that
have become readily available in aggressively marketed food products for
children. Protecting the health of our children is protecting the future of our
nation.

Under the premises, approval of this bill is strpngly/fecommended.

Representative, ABONO Party-list


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

6420
HOUSE BILL NO.

Introduced by REPRESENTATIVE CONRADO M. ESTRELLA III

AN ACT
PROTECTING AND PROMOTING PUBLIC HEALTH THROUGH
APPROPRIATE, TRANSPARENT AND EASILY COMPREHENSIBLE
LABELLING OF ALL PROCESSED AND SEMI-PROCESSED FOOD PRODUCTS
CONTAINING FREE SUGARS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the
Philippines in session assembled,

Section 1. Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Sugar Labelling Act of
2020”.

Section 2. Declaration of Policy. - The State shall, at all times, protect and
promote the health of the people and instill health consciousness among them.
It shall also maintain an effective food regulatory system responsive to the health
needs of the people.

Section 3. -_Sugar Labelling. - All processed and semi-processed food
products, whether locally produced or imported from other countries, which are
sold, distributed or traded commercially in any part of the country shall have
and bear appropriate, transparent and easily comprehensible labelling that fully
indicates and informs consumers of the amount of free sugars per serving that
was used, is present or contained in the product.

Instead of grams and kcals to indicate sugar content per serving, the
number of tablespoons of sugar per serving shall be used to indicate sugar
content in the nutrition label which shall be in large or bold print and
prominently displayed in the front part, not the side or back part, of the
packaging of all processed food products.


Further, the sugar labelling shall be color coded to better enable
consumers to flag high-sugar products. Products with high sugar content will
use red tablespoons while low sugar products will have green tablespoons. The
colors shall be determined on the basis of the distance to the 100-gram limit
recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Section 5. Penalty Clause. - Any person, natural or juridical, who
produces, manufactures or imports for commercial purposes, sells, trades, or
commercially distributes processed or semi-processed food products which are
not compliant to the sugar labelling mandated in this Act shall be liable to pay
a fine of not less than One Million Pesos for every non-compliant product and
the revocation of the permit, license or authority to produce, manufacture, sell,
trade or import, as the case may be.

Section 4. Implementing Regulations. - The Department of Health and the
Department of Trade and Industry shall prepare and promulgate the
implementing rules and regulations of this Act within sixty (60) days after its
effectivity.

Section 5. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, orders and issuances
which are contrary to this Act or to any provision thereof shall be deemed to have
been modified, altered or repealed accordingly.

Section 6. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days
after its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general
circulation.

Approved,