NYC Soda Ban Begins Tuesday, Business Owners Make Last Minute Changes
Restaurants, businesses and residents are getting ready for the New York City soda ban, which is scheduled to start on Tuesday.
Restaurants will no longer be able to serve non-diet soda in cups larger than 16 oz., which has made some business owners change the types of cups they offer as well as force owners to make other adjustments to their establishments in order to prevent fines that could reach up to several hundreds of dollars.
"Everything we do is big, so serving it in quaint little 16-ounce soda cups is going to look kind of odd," Josh Lebowitz, owner of Brother Jimmy's BBQ, told the Daily News. "As long as they keep allowing us to serve beer in glasses larger than 16 ounces, we'll be OK," Lebowitz added.
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The new law will not apply to grocery stores, diet sodas, alcoholic drinks, and anything that is more than 70 percent fruit juice or drinks that contain more than 50 percent milk.
However, many in the beverage and service industry are outraged that the ban has made it this far, contending that the ban will hurt business without addressing or even attempting to control the problem.
"The New York City health department's unhealthy obsession with attacking soft drinks is again pushing them over the top," Stefan Friedman, a spokesman for the beverage industry, previously said in a statement. "It's time for serious health professionals to move on and seek solution that are going to actually curb obesity. These zealous proposals just distract from the hard work that needs to be done on this front."
Health officials revealed that 60 percent of adults and 40 percent of kids in New York City are overweight or obese, which can lead to serious health problems later in life.
Researchers say that the ban could actually decrease the calorie intake of the city's residents should roughly half of the population consume smaller portion sizes.
"In most but not all of our simulations, the policy appears to be associated with a decrease in calories from sugar-sweetened beverages purchased at fast-food restaurants," scientists from the New York University School of Medicine wrote in the July 2012 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.
