Meeting in a public hearing at the Social Affairs Commission (CAS), experts in the areas of health and nutrition were unanimous in affirming that the regulations of the tax reform, which is being processed in the Senate, must consider the harmful effects caused in the population by the consumption of tobacco, alcoholic beverages and ultra-processed foods. The Complementary Bill (PLP) 68/2024 regulates the Selective Tax (IS), provided for by Constitutional Amendment 132 of the tax reform, which taxes products that are harmful to health and the environment.
Bruna Pitasi, from the department of promotion of adequate and healthy food of the coordinator of support to the actions of promotion of healthy food of the Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger, emphasizes the importance of promoting healthy and adequate food. She said that it is necessary to promote the consumption of a variety of foods capable of guaranteeing health and well-being.

The new basic food basket will be composed of fresh or minimally processed foods. What we notice today is an increase in the prevalence of obesity in Brazil, a condition directly related to the growth in the consumption of ultra-processed foods, which have an unbalanced nutritional composition. They tend to negatively affect culture, social life and the environment, in addition to encouraging excessive consumption of calories, with effects associated with heart disease, diabetes and cancer. It is necessary to increase taxes on these products as a way to discourage consumption – he argued.