McDonald’s hikes Coca-Cola and meal prices due to sugar tax

MCDONALD'S has pushed up the price of Coca-Cola and meal deals by as much as 12 per cent due to the new sugar tax.

Under the new rules which come in today, manufacturers of  fizzy and soft drinks are taxed depending n how much sugar is in their beverages.

Drinks more than 5g of sugar per 100ml will go up by 18p, while those with more than 8g per 100ml go up by 24p.

Coca-Cola is in the higher tax bracket with 10.6g of sugar per 100ml and McDonald's is already passing the increase onto customers.
It means the cost of a drink on it so own or part of a meal will go up by 12p for a medium size and 14p for a large drink.

Prices at McDonald's vary between stores but on average a medium drink costs 99p, while a large costs £1.29.

It will also push up the price of meals too, with the extra charge for a full fat Coca-Cola added on top.

A McDonald's spokesperson said: “Over the last few years we, and our suppliers, have made moves on our menu to reduce the number of high sugar drinks available – Fanta has been reformulated, and we only offer Sprite Zero rather than Sprite, for example.

"The intention of the levy is to encourage people to consider different options, so we will be charging customers more in line with the tax, and are making this clear in our restaurants."

“Our menu offers customers a wide ranging choice of drinks and displaying this choice is now easier as we can use our self-order screens to make low-sugar options more prominent.”
More than half of all soft drinks have been changed to lower their sugar content, as the government introduces a new sugar tax to help tackle the UK’s growing obesity crisis.

Health campaigners have said the fizzy drinks tax should be extended to cover all chocolate, sweets and other confectionery containing the highest levels of sugar.

Chocolate and sweets are already included in Public Health England’s programme aiming for a 20 per cent reduction in sugar by 2020.

But Action on Sugar is urging a mandatory levy set at a minimum of 20 per cent on all confectionery products that contain high levels of sugar.

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