Pediatricians, nutritionists, public health specialists, and consumer advocates look for front-of-package warnings
A package with a warning label.
Multiple health and consumer groups on Wednesday called on the Center to impose mandatory warning labels on all processed foods that are high in salt, sugar or fat and drop a plan to rate such foods through health stars.
Groups of pediatricians, nutrition and public health specialists, and consumer rights advocates have sought warning labels on the front of food and beverage packages in a joint position statement as part of efforts to curb consumption of unhealthy food.
They have expressed concern that the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the country’s food regulatory agency, has instead signaled its intention to introduce a health star rating system – five stars for food products. healthier and one star for the less healthy.
“Health stars can be misleading and manipulative, and will not alert consumers to the identity of unhealthy nutrients,” said Arun Gupta, child health specialist at Nutrition Advocacy for Public Interest (NAPi), India, a group health defense. NAPi had drafted the position statement, now endorsed by more than 20 other organizations.
“We are pleased that many prominent organizations have come together to oppose this irresponsible move by the FSSAI,” Gupta said.
Current food labeling rules require companies to print the ingredients and nutritional breakdown, specifying, for example, levels of fat, cholesterol, sugar, sodium, fiber and protein and calories per serving. But experts say existing labels don’t provide enough understanding for decision-making.
“Most consumers don’t have the time or the skills to interpret existing labels,” said Vandana Prasad, community pediatrician, NAPi member, and advisor to the Public Health Resource Network, a non-governmental organization dedicated to the health sectors. and nutrition.
A 2020 survey by the FSSAI found that in 95 percent of 1,306 product samples from 30 food and beverage companies, the concentration of at least one critical nutritional component exceeded the threshold set by the World Health Organization.
About 62 percent of the products had excessive levels of three or more nutritional components.
Following a stakeholder meeting in February this year, the FSSAI, an agency under the Union Ministry of Health, decided to incorporate health star ratings into the proposed draft regulations for front-of-package (FOP) labels. The meeting was attended by representatives from the food industry, health experts, consumer rights advocates and government officials.
The FSSAI’s decision was based on a survey conducted by the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, which recommended health star ratings as the “preferred FOP label”, citing ease of understanding.
But health and nutrition specialists say they were surprised by the decision.
“The consumer’s right to judge the health risks posed by packaged foods is not upheld by health stars,” said K. Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India, a research and research institution. training based in New Delhi. “The stars will not tell a consumer how a packaged food poses a health risk.”
Harsh Pal Singh Sachdev, a pediatrician and nutrition expert at the Sitaram Bhartia Research Institute in New Delhi, said clear warning labels could influence consumers’ product-buying decisions in seconds.
Sachdev and others are concerned that health star ratings could be manipulated to improve ratings for certain foods because they contain “positive nutrients” along with, say, high sugar content.
“A single star has a positive connotation,” Prasad said, warning that health stars could provide a false sense of security through stars awarded to unhealthy foods that also contain certain healthy ingredients, such as fruit or nuts.
Health and consumer groups said they had opposed the health stars’ proposal at the February meeting. The NAPi had written in March this year to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Health seeking warning labels.
“We have not received a response so far,” Gupta said Wednesday.
A query sent by this newspaper to the FSSAI about concerns about health stars expressed by the NAPi has gone unanswered.
“This is a case where the FSSAI has signaled its intention to adopt an industry-acceptable system that will not benefit consumers,” said Ashim Sanyal, executive director of Consumer Voice, a New York-based consumer rights group. Delhi which has endorsed the position argument.
“Warning labels could provide at-a-glance information to consumers, including children, that a product contains excess salt, sugar or saturated fat,” Sanyal said.
The request for warning labels comes amid long-standing concerns among health experts that India is experiencing a rise in cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other non-communicable diseases driven by unhealthy diets. Non-communicable diseases account for about 5.8 million of the 9 million annual deaths in India.
The Indian Academy of Paediatrics, Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine, Indian Public Health Association, Consumers Unit and Trust Society and others have endorsed the position statement.
A market survey indicates that sales of processed foods in India increased from 2 kg per capita in 2005 to 6 kg in 2019 and could increase to 8 kg by 2025. Beverage sales increased from 2 liters per capita in 2005 to 8 liters per capita in 2019.
