In a document sent to parliament, seen by Lusa News Agency, the national Doctors, Nutritionists, Nurses, Pharmacists, and Dentists’ associations all gave the green light to the salt tax foreseen in the upcoming 2018 State Budget.
But, at the same time, they said they want guarantees that other initiatives to promote food education and industry reforms will also be pushed by the government.
Reducing salt consumption “should be a national priority”, the professional associations jointly wrote, underlining how Portugal suffers from excessive consumption of salt and a high incidence of diseases associated with it.
In comments to Lusa, the Nutritionists’ association argued that proceeds from the tax on products with excess salt should be channelled directly into measures to promote healthy eating.
Alexandra Bento, head of the country’s nutritionists, emphasised that the associations do not want the tax on saltier products “to be seen only as a money-making measure”.
“We have to take the money that is collected and use it directly to promote healthy eating, applying it wholly for this purpose”, she said.
A tax on some high-salt products is foreseen in the State Budget proposal for 2018, but parties such as the PCP communists and the CDS Christian democrats have already called its approval into question.