Longmont City Council wants residents and business owners to serve up their opinions on a proposed ordinance that would require restaurants to list healthy beverages as default choices in menus offering children’s meals.
The council agreed in May to consider the healthy beverage ordinance after local restaurants were consulted and asked to help craft the new law. Council members noted local eateries had been hit especially hard by COVID-19.
“We know how hard the restaurant industry has been hit,” Councilmember Polly Christensen said in May.
Members of the Boulder County Sugary Drinks Youth Committee asked the city council in May to support the ordinance and to increase access to healthy beverages at local schools and recreation centers.
They also presented research that indicated soft drink companies actively target low-income and minority youth to boost sales.
High schooler Nivedita Prabhu told the council, in May, that soft drink companies spent $84 million in ads on Spanish language television in 2018, an 80% increase from 2010.
“The focus on minorities leads to more consumption,” Prabhu told the council. The effort to boost sales among minorities has been “incredibly successful.”
To provide detailed information on the proposed ordinance and to gather community input, a Healthy Beverages for Children’s Meals project has been created on Engage Longmont, the online engagement platform. Restaurant owners and other community members are encouraged to visit the site to learn more about the ordinance, ask questions, provide feedback and tell their stories, a city of Longmont news release states.
“Sugary drinks increase the risk of dental disease, Type 2 diabetes and preventable diseases such as obesity,” said Christina Pacheco, division manager of Children, Youth & Families, in the news release.
“In Boulder County, childhood obesity rates have increased by 43% since 2003. This proposed ordinance was created to help families combat this alarming increase by making the healthy choice the easy choice,” Pacheco.
The proposed ordinance does not limit what restaurants can serve, nor what families can order,” said Olga Bermudez, community coordinator for prevention with Children, Youth & Families in the news release. “It merely requires that when menus offer a kids’ meal and beverage for one price, the default beverages be water, milk, or a milk substitute without added sugar.“
The community feedback will help the council make an informed decision on the ordinance, Bermudez said. There is no indication when the council will review the ordinance.
After the survey closes on July 30, results will be compiled and presented to the city council in time to review the ordinance.
All related information, surveys, and engagement tools are available in both Spanish and English:
Visite Bebidas saludables para comidas de los niños
