Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Dec;19(17):3085-3094.
doi: 10.1017/S1368980015002360. Epub 2015 Aug 26.

Effects of the Danish saturated fat tax on the demand for meat and dairy products

Jørgen Dejgaard Jensen  1 , Sinne Smed  1 , Lars Aarup  2 , Erhard Nielsen  2
Affiliations

Effects of the Danish saturated fat tax on the demand for meat and dairy products

Jørgen Dejgaard Jensen et al. Public Health Nutr. 2016 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: Taxation of unhealthy food is considered a regulation tool to improve diets. In 2011 Denmark introduced a tax on saturated fat in food products, the first country in the world to do so. The objective of the present paper is to investigate the effects of the tax on consumers' intake of saturated fat within three different types of food product group: minced beef, regular cream and sour cream.

Design: We use an augmented version of the Linearized Almost Ideal Demand System (LAIDS) functional form for econometric analysis, allowing for tax-induced structural breaks.

Setting: Data originate from one of the largest retail chains in Denmark (Coop Danmark) and cover January 2010 to October 2012, with monthly records of sales volume, sales revenue and information about specific campaigns from 1293 stores.

Results: The Danish fat tax had an insignificant or small negative effect on the price for low- and medium-fat varieties, and led to a 13-16 % price increase for high-fat varieties of minced beef and cream products. The tax induced substitution effects, budget effects and preference change effects on consumption, yielding a total decrease of 4-6 % in the intake of saturated fat from minced beef and regular cream, and a negligible effect on the intake from sour cream.

Conclusions: The Danish introduction of a tax on saturated fat in food in October 2011 had statistically significant effects on the sales of fat in minced beef and cream products, but the tax seems to have reduced the beyond-recommendation saturated fat intake to only a limited extent.

Keywords: Beef; Cream; Demand response; Fat tax; Price response; Retail sales.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Developments in the price (formula image, price_ref; formula image, price_LoF; formula image, price_MdF; formula image, price_HiF) of (a) minced beef, (b) regular cream and (c) sour cream in Denmark, January 2010–October 2012; formula image represents introduction of the tax on saturated fat in foods on 1 October 2011 (ref, reference; LoF, low-fat variety; MdF, medium-fat variety; HiF, high-fat variety)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization (2008) WHO European Action Plan for Food and Nutrition Policy 2007–2012. http://www.euro.who.int/data/assets/pdf_file/0017/74402/E91153.pdf (accessed September 2012).
    1. Villanueva T (2011) European nations launch tax attack on unhealthy foods. CMAJ 183, E1229–E1230. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Holt E (2011) Hungary to introduce broad range of fat taxes. Lancet 378, 755. - PubMed
    1. Boseley S (2013) Mexico to tackle obesity with taxes on junk food and sugary drink. The Guardian, 1 November. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/01/mexico-obesity-taxes-junk-f... (accessed December 2014).
    1. European Public Health Alliance (2012) Food taxation in Europe: evolution of the legislation. http://www.epha.org/a/4814 (accessed November 2012).