Bubble tea lovers can now enjoy their favourite drink, now in ice cream format.
Wall’s ice cream brand is collaborating for the first time with Tealive Malaysia to create the Wall’s Special Edition Tealive Boba Ice Cream. This product also represents a series of firsts, as it is the first to bring Malaysians a new way of Boba enjoyment in the form of an ice cream stick.
This ice cream is made with 100% rich milk tea flavours and real chewy pearls, and it almost resembles the ‘satisfying’ sensorial experience that one can get from a bubble tea but on a stick.
The bubble tea ice cream will be available nationwide at all major supermarkets, hypermarkets, convenience stores and selected Tealive stores. At the time of reporting, Tealive Malaysia was offering the ice cream at a discounted price of RM2.20 (US$0.50) if the consumer orders it with additional bubble tea drinks. For stand-alone sale, the ice cream will cost RM2.50 (US$0.57), which is still much cheaper than a cup of bubble tea.
This new launch will bring much delight to many Malaysians who are now staying at home most of their time due to the pandemic.
The Philippines’ authorities is unlikely to push for the proposed junk food tax nor an increase in the tax imposed on sugary drinks due to the difficulty in enforcement as well as their mixed impact on health and nutrition.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Jose Ma. Clemente S. Salceda said that the amount and value of salt and monosodium glutamate (MSG) in these products are too low to be of significance while they will be hard to quantify and enforce since most of these items are produced and sold by the informal sector.
Salceda also pointed out that the link of these ingredients to health issues are not as clear as the connection between sugar and obesity and diabetes. Sugar content is also easier to quantify at source. However, he pointed out that implementing sugary drinks tax will produce more malnutrition than reduce obesity. He claimed that the Philippines now already has the highest tax on sugar in the world at Pesos 6 (US$0.11). In comparison, Mexico, one of the world’s largest consumers of soft drink, has only a Pesos 3 (US$0.05) tax and was able to reduce obesity from 76% to 67%.
Salceda claimed that the Philippines does not have an obesity problem since its obesity rate is only 22%. Reducing it further might result in malnutrition. This is because sugar or glucose accounts for a significant portion of the Filipino diet and lowering the consumption may mean that the poor may not hit their recommended daily allowance (RDA).
