No more super-sized Cokes. Forget about stomach-busting 64-ounce sodas at KFC. Even 20-ounce Snapples are on Mayor Bloomberg’s latest heath-conscious hit list.
In a dramatic move to reduce obesity, the city is going to become the first in the nation to impose a 16-ounce limit on the size of sweetened beverages sold in food establishments that receive letter grades from the Health Department, as well as mobile food carts.
The list includes more than 20,000 restaurants, as well as movie theaters, stadiums and arenas.
The big-drink ban would take effect in March 2013 after public hearings and would apply to bottled drinks as well as fountain sodas.
There would be no restrictions placed on diet sodas or beverages with less than 25 calories per eight ounces. But stores that allow customers to draw their own fountain drinks wouldn’t be allowed to stock cups larger than 16 ounces to prevent switches from diet to non-diet beverages.
Stores that don’t downsize would face fines of $200. Supermarkets, grocery stores and other food sellers would not be affected.
Bloomberg said he had no qualms about supporting the 16-ounce limit when it was presented to him by a multi-agency task force formed last December to find ways of reducing obesity.
“All across the country, everybody recognizes obesity as a growing, serious problem,” the mayor said in an interview. “But everybody’s just sitting around wringing their hands, not doing anything about it … I think it’s fair to say that while everyone else is sitting around complaining, New York City is acting.”
He said he didn’t expect the soda industry, which is gearing up for battle, to come up with legal ammunition to undo what would be a Health Department regulation similar to those requiring the posting of calorie counts and the banning of trans-fats.
“I don’t know how in court you would challenge it,” said the mayor. “We’re not taking away any rights.”
He suggested anyone who wanted a 32-ounce soda could still get one by ordering two 16-ounce servings.
Stefan Friedman, a spokesman for the New York City Beverage Association, called the city’s proposal misguided.
“There they go again,” he said. “The New York City Health Department’s obsession with attacking soft drinks is again pushing them over the top.”
Additional reporting by Frank Rosario and Kenneth Garger