San Mateo Patch
San Mateo County has adopted a policy that bans the sale of sugary drinks in county vending machines and cafeterias, and at county-sponsored meetings.
Under the new Wellness Policy, taxpayer funds cannot be used to purchase sodas and other sugar-sweetened beverages, county officials said in a statement released Monday.
“If we want healthy employees, we have to create a healthy environment,” Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson said in the statement.
“With our new Wellness Policy, we are not only demonstrating our commitment to the health of our employees. We are also providing a model for other employers in the county,” she said.
Sugar-sweetened beverages greatly contribute to obesity in San Mateo County, where 50 percent of adults and 25 percent of children are overweight or obese, according to county officials.
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