Complaints About Es Teh Indonesia Product Is Too Sweet, Ministry Of Health Reveals The Fact That 28 Percent Of The Population Consumes Excessive Sugar

Illustration of the Ministry of Health Building in Jakarta. (Doc P2ptm Ministry of Health)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) also opened its voice regarding the level of sugar consumption which is now being discussed by the public. This is the aftermath of a netizen's complaint that the Indonesian iced tea product is too sweet.

The Director General of Disease Prevention and Control, the Ministry of Health, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, revealed that based on his data, it turned out that 28.7 percent of Indonesians consumed sugar, salt, and fat (GGL) in excess of the recommended limit.

"Meanwhile, 61.27 percent of the population aged 3 years and over in Indonesia consume sweet drinks more than once per day and 30.22 percent of people consume sweet drinks 1-6 times per week," said Maxi in a written statement, as quoted on Wednesday, September 28.

Then, continued Maxi, only 8.51 percent of people consume sugary drinks less than 3 times per month.

Maxi explained, excessive sugar consumption, either from food or drinks, has a high risk of causing health problems such as high blood sugar, obesity, and diabetes mellitus.

He continued, the thing to worry about from the high consumption of sugar is the increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in young people which has doubled in the last 10 years.

"2015 data shows the prevalence of overweight in children aged 5-19 years from 8.6% in 2006 to 15.4% in 2016. While the prevalence of obesity in children aged 5-19 years from 2.8% in 2006 to 6.1% in 2016," he said.

Actually, the excise policy on packaged sweetened drinks (MBDK) in Indonesia has also been regulated in Law No. 39 of 2007 concerning Excise and implemented by the Ministry of Finance.

Maxi hopes that the imposition of excise on food and beverage products that are high in sugar, salt, and fat can initiate the creation of healthier food through food reformulation so as to reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases.

“We ask the public to be aware to take care of the health of themselves and their families. Correct parenting will prevent children from suffering from diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and cholesterol in adulthood," he explained.

It is known, on Twitter social media, a consumer named Gandhi shared his opinion about one of the Indonesian Ice Tea beverage products. He uses a hyperbole figure of speech so that he calls the drink like 3 kg of sugar.

Gandhi also said the drink maker should just go bankrupt because it could have an impact on diabetes from a young age. This tweet was liked by more than 32,000 Twitter users.

Then, the tweet was replied to by a social media user named Hanzak. He said Gandhi's tweet could be used as a company weapon to issue a subpoena against Article 28 paragraph (2) of the ITE Law.

Saturday, September 24, the Es Teh Indonesia account wrote a response to the tweet. They claim to have obtained data related to consumers.

"Hello, thank you for the support. In connection with the tweet, the data has been received by our legal team," wrote the Es Teh Indonesia account.

The next day, Gandhi uploaded a summons sent by PT Es Teh Indonesia. Es Teh said the mention of 3 kg of sugar could be wrong and mislead consumers and the public.

Then, Es Teh Indonesia also felt insulted because there were some harsh words sent by consumers when writing the tweet. Es Teh Indonesia party asks consumers to delete tweets and write clarifications within 2x24 hours.