PepsiCo to remove sugary drinks from school vending machines worldwide

World Heart Federation President Pekka Puska has been leading negotiations with soft drinks industry

Pekka Puska

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PepsiCo, the world’s second-largest soft drinks maker, announced on Tuesday that it plans to remove its sugary soft drinks from vending machines in schools worldwide by 2012.
      In practice, the decision means that full-sugar carbonated soft drinks will no longer be offered for sale in primary and secondary schools. The decision applies to more than 200 countries, including Finland.
      The company explains that it wants to ensure that the only beverages available in schools are those that meet children’s nutritional needs.
     
The World Heart Federation has been negotiating over the past year with the soft drinks industry for such a policy at a global level.
      In the USA, both PepsiCo and Coca-Cola withdrew full-sugar beverages from schools already at the end of 2008.
      ”At the same time, such beverages have nevertheless been marketed rampantly in developing countries. Moreover, the problem of obesity among children is a global challenge. This move will not solve the problem, but it is a good beginning”, says Pekka Puska, the President of the World Heart Federation.
      In Finland, Pekka Puska has held the position of Director General of the National Institute for Health and Welfare since the beginning of 2009, and he has been a hugely influential figure in Finnish public health research and practice since the 1970s, when he was behind the so-called North Karelia Project to reduce deaths from cardiovascular disease.
     
The underlying factor behind the current situation is the intensive competition between beverage companies, Puska notes.
      ”PepsiCo felt that the time is ripe for such a decision when the public pressure increased”, Pekka Puska adds.
      Coca-Cola, the largest soft drink producer worldwide, announced earlier that it will withraw beverages from primary schools worldwide, unless the schools specifically ask to have them.
     
In Finland, primary schools do not have soft drink vending machines at all.
      However, in 25 per cent of the country’s secondary schools and upper secondary schools, soft drinks were sold on a regular basis in 2008.
      Pekka Puska notes further that Finnish teens nevertheless drink less soft drinks than their European contemporaries.
      ”The situation in Finland is relatively good, but it is important that it does not get any worse. The number of obese children has tripled over 30 years. Such a trend has to be turned around”, Puska argues.
      ”Frequently primary and secondary schools use the same buildings. If there is a vending machine in the secondary school, the situation becomes problematic”, he adds.
     
The removal of drinks with added sugars from schools will not affect PepsiCo’s sales in Finland, affirms Harry Skön, the Managing Director at PepsiCo Nordic Finland.
      In fact, the sales of the sugar-free Pepsi Max are double compared with the regular Pepsi cola drink.
      ”The sales of Pepsi soft drinks in schools are extremely small; we are talking about fractions of percentages. Conscious efforts have long been made to replace the soft drink assortments in vending machines by mineral waters and light beverages”, Skön reports.
     
At the same time, the Helsinki City Council has suggested that all vending machines selling soft drinks and sweets should be removed from all schools in the capital.
      This would affect both comprehensive schools, upper secondary schools, and vocational schools.
      The city’s Education Committee will handle the proposal during the spring after hearing the stand of the Education Department.
      Currently all Finnish schools may decide for themselves whether or not they allow student bodies to place a vending machine on the school premises.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Campaign launched against child obesity (6.4.2005)

See also:
  Helsinki schools´ vending machines for sweets and soft drinks to be switched off during lunch break (25.2.2004)
  International visitors learn about school lunches in Joensuu (15.9.2005)

Links:
  Pekka Puska (Wikipedia)
  PepsiCo
  World Heart Federation press release, 16.3.2010

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