No Sodas for you!

Any other companies banning crews from bringing cokes, pepsis, sodas, etc onboard because of the "inherent health risks "?
Just curious

I’d be curious to know which companies are doing that. Seems like a better idea to stop the smoking, dip, and fried fridays.

We’ve got a ban on energy drinks after the company doctor decided they were bad for us. Other than that, no. What company is banning sodas?

If I could pull it off, I’d nix Fried Friday myself. I’d have a mutiny on board though if I took away their fried catfish though.

First time I have ever seen a company banning you from buying the items and bringing them onboard. I used to work for a company that wouldn’t buy them, but you could as they were view as “luxury” items. I’d say who it was, but not big into name calling. Lets just say the are out of Houston and work the Gulf and East Coast.

It was my understanding that they had banned purchasing them with vessel grub money, and only discouraged crew from buying them themselves.

Nope. In fact my company supplies them

By that logic they should be banning coffee and tea.

“Sugar is the new fat” according to the latest research: http://www.foodrepublic.com/2016/05/24/its-official-sugar-is-the-new-fat/
It causes more health problems and obesity than fat. Fat is a necessity and actually good for you, as is coffee, chocolate and alcohol, but in [B]moderation[/B]. (Not all kinds, by the way)

Just wait a while and something else will top the list of unhealthy eating and drinking. What is now “banned” will be touted as “health food” and a “must” for good living.

So do your exercise, eat your greens and live to be at least 95. The last 20 years without knowing anything of what is going on around you. CHEERS!!!

Yeah, my concern is that when a company starts telling you what you can purchase and bring on board, then what all will be next ? I didn’t sign up to be a health nut. If I wanted someone to tell me what to eat for each meal and what snacks I can have I’d have joined the military. I like good food and I like to pick most of it out ! Lol

[QUOTE=ombugge;192231]“Sugar is the new fat” according to the latest research: http://www.foodrepublic.com/2016/05/24/its-official-sugar-is-the-new-fat/
It causes more health problems and obesity than fat. Fat is a necessity and actually good for you, as is coffee, chocolate and alcohol, but in [B]moderation[/B]. (Not all kinds, by the way)
[/QUOTE]

So it’s out with sodas but we’ll bring back the ration of grog.

There has been chatter from the USCG over the past few years about trying to restrict or ban certain “unhealthy food items” like fried food etc. Me personally, I stay away from soft drinks and typically just drink coffee and water onboard and at home. I don’t view it as my personal obligation to police my crew if they want to have a coke with dinner and don’t believe anyone should.

I know that my company has made a concerted effort to educate the crews about the dangers of added sugars and unhealthy eating but thank god they have not attempted to mandate it. They even went so far as to bring in a nutritionalist at a senior officer’s conference who tried to tell us to order healthier foods on our food requisitions. Every Captain in the room turned to the fleet manager and simply said that if the company would like to increase the monthly budget by a few thousand dollars per ship we would gladly make it so. There was not much of a positive response to that one.

In the end, in my humble opinion, if you take the minimum enjoyment of food out of going to sea, who will stick around? I push my steward to keep the crew well fed and happy as a standard practice. Both to keep the moral high but also to keep good sailors coming back. If she’s a feeder most people can work around the downsides of the contract or even the run you’re on. Good food can do remarkable things for a ship. Banning what foods a sailor can buy with his own money as a treat has the potential to do horrific things.

Here’s hoping I don’t get an email tomorrow that sodas are now banned throughout the company!

I think the latest thing in health food trends is to eat like your ancestors. “paleo,” right?

For us this must mean: grog, limes, cured meat, maggotty biscuits, and when those run out it’ll be cabin boy stew. That’ll perk the moral right up.

I personally think they are doing this as a cost saving measure.
They can save money on groceries as sodas can get expensive,they can save money on garbage as soda cans can take up a significant amount of space in a waste bin and they can most likely try to use it as a cost saving measure with health insurance saying they are encouraging their employees to be healthy.
They are trying to come across as looking out for your best interests, but really they are looking out for their own.

We’ve got a flat rate per person per day and could buy nothing but hot pockets and toilet paper if that’s what we really wanted. So cost saving isn’t the reasoning here… (there are some captains that chop the budget more for whatever reason cough Aiviq cough …but they’re a rarity as most want their crews fat and happy at meals and work.)

Do other companies do it differently than a per diem?

You may be right about the health insurance though. That makes sense.

[QUOTE=API;192200]Any other companies banning crews from bringing cokes, pepsis, sodas, etc onboard because of the "inherent health risks "? Just curious[/QUOTE] Not sure how I would respond to the company if they issued such a bizarre policy they actually expected to be enforced. I hope the speculation of other posts were correct, that the policy applies as to how the Captain would provision the vessel. I don’t have a problem with the company not allowing “x” to be purchased with their $$. If they are issuing the $$ to each person, and the crew are responsible for buying their own food, then the company has relinquished all right to control what is purchased with the $$. If the company is concerned about health, they should fund the purchasing of good provisions, pay the cook to prepare meals that aren’t all factory prepared, and provide healthy meal options like a salad bar (with some salad dressing options besides “ranch”). Hey, maybe go beyond that and provide equipment and a space to exercise while on board !