The Department of Health Wants to Tax Daing
The Spanish didn't come all this way for nothing. Filipinos love to pack in the flavor and the drama when it comes to our food-and pretty much everything else, really-and salt is always in high demand. But you may want to rethink your usual breakfast of perfectly fried, salty and crisp daing, complete with salted egg and sinangag (with a generous sprinkling of rock salt, of course), because the Department of Health is looking to impose a tax on salted food products.
While the tax is still just a possibility being studied by the Department of Health, spokesperson Eric Domingo has clarified that if implemented, it will be levied on all salted food products-daing included. "Ito 'yong iniisip natin na pag-aralan na pagtataasan natin ang buwis sa salted food, maaaring magkaroon ito ng positive na outcome sa ating mga kalusugan," said Domingo in a report by Inquirer.net.
According to Domingo, excessive salt intake "is directly correlated to hypertension, heart disease and kidney diseases." Reducing salt in our diets could lead to 164,251 lives saved in a 15-year period, according to a report by GMA News Online. Plus, it was found that on average, Filipinos consume twice the daily amount recommended by the World Health Organization.
While less salt in our diet sounds like a good thing, there's no word yet on the over-all effect of the possible tax. In the meantime, you may want to try cutting back on the patis.
Main image from Judgefloro/Wikimedia Commons.
This story originally appeared on Spot.ph.
* Minor edits have been made by the Yummy.ph editors.
