'Fat tax' plan as half of Romanians overweight

Published on Thursday 18 February 2010 23:29

PLANS by the Romanian government to wage war on obesity and bolster the country's flagging treasury by introducing Europe's first fast-food tax have met resistance, including claims it will lead to mass redundancies.

Romanian trade unions and the food industry have warned that the new levy on fatty, salty and sugary foods, scheduled to come into force on 1 March and already dubbed the "fat tax", could have dire consequences.

Sorin Minea, president of the Romalimenta trade union, said food prices could leap by as much as 30 per cent at a time when many Romanians are struggling to survive on an average monthly salary of just 313 in a harsh economic climate induced by the world-wide recession.

The food industry has also decided to put its boot into the tax by claiming that it could lead to redundancies. Dragos Frumosu, head of the Romanian Food Industry Federation, said the tax might push the industry into shedding 20 per cent of its employees, leaving 36,000 people jobless.

The health ministry says that half of Romania's 22 million people are now overweight, while the country's nutrition federation puts obesity levels at 25 per cent – a significant change from the fat-free population of the Communist era.

The row came as a 25-year-old woman weighing 240kg (38 stone) gave birth to her first baby at a hospital equipped to treat obese people.

"The baby is the fruit of the love between me and my future husband, who is slimmer, weighing just 70kg," said Victoria Lacatus.

The healthy baby girl, born by Caesarean section, weighed six and a half pounds, said a spokesman for Bucharest University Emergency Hospital.