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No: the proposition exempts products that contain only "natural fruit and vegetable juice", not "natural flavors" - the two are different. Some "natural flavors

by objclxt 12y ago

No: the proposition exempts products that contain only "natural fruit and vegetable juice", not "natural flavors" - the two are different. Some "natural flavors" are only natural in the sense they are derived from natural compounds, but are still synthesized in a lab. Similarly, diet sodas - which do contain artificial flavors - are similarly exempt. You can read the ballot measure in full here: http://ballotpedia.org/City_of_San_Francisco_Sugary_Drink_Tax,_Proposition_E_(November_2014) http://ballotpedia.org/City_of_San_Francisco_Sugary_Drink_Ta...

hiou 12y ago
So would that Odwalla drink I listed be exempt? It contains a ton of added sugar. So the rule is that if it has over 25 calories and and nothing manufactured in a lab you can add as much sugar as you want and be exempt? So this has a bunch of High Fructose Corn syrup http://www.foodfacts.com/ci/nutritionfacts/Beverages-non-milk/Ocean-Spray-Cran-Raspberry-Juice--fl-oz/50452 http://www.foodfacts.com/ci/nutritionfacts/Beverages-non-mil... Does that count as exempt? What exactly does "natural fruit and vegetable juice" actually mean? Concentrated orange juice often has citric acid added to it. Tropicana Orange Juice from Concentrate has added "natural flavors". Does that make it taxed? http://www.tropicana.com/#/trop_products/productsLanding.swf?NonRefrigerated/92 http://www.tropicana.com/#/trop_products/productsLanding.swf...
brownbat 12y ago
The ballot measure isn't really clear. It seems to exempt beverages that contain ONLY natural fruit and vegetable juice (emph. added). Odwalla's Strawberry C Monster contains "cane sugar" as an ingredient. http://www.odwalla.com/products/smoothies/strawberry-c-monster http://www.odwalla.com/products/smoothies/strawberry-c-monst... My read would be that once you add cane sugar to something, it no longer contains "only fruit juice," but maybe that's not how it would work in practice. (hiou claims Odwalla's exempt, I don't know what that's based on though, maybe hiou meant one of the other Odwalla drinks that don't have added sugars, not sure).

by objclxt 12y ago

hiou 12y ago

So would that Odwalla drink I listed be exempt? It contains a ton of added sugar. So the rule is that if it has over 25 calories and and nothing manufactured in a lab you can add as much sugar as you want and be exempt? So this has a bunch of High Fructose Corn syrup http://www.foodfacts.com/ci/nutritionfacts/Beverages-non-milk/Ocean-Spray-Cran-Raspberry-Juice--fl-oz/50452 http://www.foodfacts.com/ci/nutritionfacts/Beverages-non-mil... Does that count as exempt? What exactly does "natural fruit and vegetable juice" actually mean? Concentrated orange juice often has citric acid added to it. Tropicana Orange Juice from Concentrate has added "natural flavors". Does that make it taxed? http://www.tropicana.com/#/trop_products/productsLanding.swf?NonRefrigerated/92 http://www.tropicana.com/#/trop_products/productsLanding.swf...

brownbat 12y ago

The ballot measure isn't really clear. It seems to exempt beverages that contain ONLY natural fruit and vegetable juice (emph. added). Odwalla's Strawberry C Monster contains "cane sugar" as an ingredient. http://www.odwalla.com/products/smoothies/strawberry-c-monster http://www.odwalla.com/products/smoothies/strawberry-c-monst... My read would be that once you add cane sugar to something, it no longer contains "only fruit juice," but maybe that's not how it would work in practice. (hiou claims Odwalla's exempt, I don't know what that's based on though, maybe hiou meant one of the other Odwalla drinks that don't have added sugars, not sure).