The food police are alive and well in Berkeley, California, where the city council and mayor Jesse Arreguin unanimously adopted the Healthy Checkout Ordinance, slated to take effect on March 1, 2021.
The item, co-authored by Council Member Kate Harrison, states that stores 2,500-square-feet and larger will no longer be permitted to display in their checkout aisles things like candy, chips, soda, etc. Those stores include Safeway, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Walgreens, and Berkeley Bowl. Customers will have to instead hunt down their salt and sugar fixes from the regular aisles before cashing out.
Harrison described the bill as “a light-touch ordinance” aimed at reducing the public’s intake of junk food, which health experts say is strategically placed in large stores to incite “impulse buying.” Some of them hope the ordinance will sway other municipalities around the country to adopt similar measures.
So who’s for it? Based on public comments from the Sept. 22 council meeting: Choosy moms and dads, fitness junkies, and those affected by diabetes, which include high-risk groups such as African Americans and low-income communities.
Who’s against it? Kids as well as people who consume a gallon of Rocky Road ice cream every day and can still jog around the block.
(Lead photo: Berkeley, CA, Google Images)
Another victory for the left!