Mayor Bloomberg s ban on large sugary drinks set to go into effect on Tuesday, March 12th is not only applicable to soda, but may affect your morning coffee routine as well. And those restrictions are even more difficult to understand than the soda regulations, sorry to say.
The regulations regarding coffee drinks apply to beverages over 16 ounces. Although these larger size coffees will continue to be available, baristas will not be able to add more than three to five packets of sugar depending on the size of the drink. But it doesn t stop there. These rules will not apply to drinks consisting of more than 50 percent milk since milk is viewed as a valuable source of nutrition by the city. There will also be no limit on the amount of Splenda, Equal or Sweet n Low allowed. However, besides the longer lines they may have to wait in while baristas figure out how to comply with these regulations, these added sugar regulations will really make no difference to the consumer. Once the drink is handed over, consumers will be free to add as much additional sugar as they want!
And coffee companies are having a hard time figuring out how to comply with these regulations. Many sellers do not know how much sugar or milk is in their drinks. Some, such as McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts, are simply going to stop adding sugar to their coffee drinks and leave that up to the consumer. Starbuck s spokeswoman Linda Mills says that A majority of our drinks fall outside of the ban and we re not expecting to make any immediate changes next week.
Robert McConkey, manager of Café Angelique in the West Village sums it up very well. The way the law is worded, there s plenty of ways for us to get around a lot of them. It just seems so ridiculous.
ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom predicts, When people actually start to experience the multiple inconveniences that arise from this idiotic (and useless) ban, they will finally understand the consequences of Bloomberg s ego-driven power trip. And, I suspect many of them will be none too happy about it. He continues, " Government of the people, by the people, for the people has somehow turned into government to annoy the people, control the people, and for no good reason.