Delaware restaurants asked to reduce sugary drinks for kids

Delaware Rep. Melissa Minor Brown, D-Pennwood, flanked by a diverse coalition of health and community advocates, called for Delaware’s restaurants to #servekidsbetter by introducing House Bill 79.

The legislation ensures restaurants offer water, milk or 100 percent juice as the automatic or default beverage instead of soda and other sugary drinks in kids’ meals. Substantially identical legislation was swiftly debated, passed, and signed into law last fall in Wilmington.

Baltimore, New York City and the states of California and Hawaii have also passed similar legislation.

Minor Brown said, “Delaware parents are busy, our lives are hectic, and we’re eating meals out more than ever. Restaurants that help parents by making healthier options more the norm than the exception stand to gain a competitive advantage. As a busy mom, I know I feel better about and am more likely to frequently patronize our local restaurants that make it easier for me to make smart, nutritious choices and selections in a hurry.”

The legislation Minor Brown is working to pass this session would take Wilmington’s healthy kids meals policy statewide.

”The American Heart Association wants to build a culture of health in Delaware by making the healthier choice the easier choice for every Delawarean, and this proposed change to kids’ meals is an important step in that direction,” said Robin Horn, MD, mission chair, American Heart Association in Delaware.

For more information, go to www.healthy4delaware.com.