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Food

Soda Ban Will Be Enforced With Crime-Fighting 17-Ounce Cups


By

Christopher Robbins

Published Mar 10, 2013

Modified Mar 10, 2013


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A crime-fighting measuring cup

 

Shutterstock / M. Unal Ozmen


By

Christopher Robbins

Published Mar 10, 2013

Modified Mar 10, 2013


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Soda merchants thinking they could M.C. Escher their way into selling more liquid with deceptively small-looking cups when the sugary beverage ban begins Tuesday are out of luck. According to the Daily News, Health Department employees will be inspecting establishments with 17-ounce measuring cups to ensure that they are complying with the law.

“Will they deploy sugar sniffing dogs to detect the amount of calories from sugar?" a lobbyist for the National Association of Theatre Owners says. Indeed, why should the Health Department actually enforce the law? This is New York City—no restaurant would ever attempt to game the system.

The DOH's enforcement plan was revealed in an affidavit in the lawsuit that soda companies have filed against the city for enacting the ban, and is designed to give establishments a 1-ounce margin of error. We can't wait to pay an extra quarter for a special 16.9-ounce "Jailbait" cup of Vanilla Coke.

Tagged

department of health

obesity epidemic

soda

soda ban


Christopher Robbins

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Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


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