In today’s Finshots, we talk about the Indian Nutritional Rating (INR) and the debate around it.
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The history
Let’s be honest. We all like to snack once in a while. It could be a packet of instant noodles, popcorn, or a bag of chips. It’s a good way to deal with your cravings.
And the Indians are getting addicted to these things. According to a survey conducted by Mondelez International and The Harris Poll, 8 out of 10 Indians respondents said they were replacing full meals with snacks. And not just any kind of snacks. Mostly packaged food. and according to euromonitor It seems that the sale of ultra-processed food in India has tripled from 2 kg per capita in 2005 to 6 kg in 2019. And it is expected to reach 8 kg by 2024.
But we all know that it is not a healthy alternative.
Processed foods breed obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular problems. It can make an entire population sick and unhealthy. So what do you do about it?
Well, apparently the FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) has a new formula: a star rating plastered on the front of food and snack packages that tells you exactly how healthy or unhealthy the food is. product.
Now, we’ve talked about star ratings in the past when describing Australia’s health star rating system, a fairly authoritative guide to grading grocery products. in its own words —
The Health Star Rating system is based on comparing products within similar food categories and allows us to quickly compare the overall nutritional profile of foods within that category. For example, we can compare one breakfast cereal to another, one muesli bar to another, or one margarine spread to another… Health star ratings can help you choose between similar products that are typically displayed together (for example , wholemeal bread and white bread).
Star ratings will range from half a star to 5 stars. And it takes into account various nutritional information to determine what deserves a higher rating and what doesn’t. According to Australian guidance, at least a health star rating of 3.5 or less is generally considered unhealthy and so that you can make a reasonable assessment of the quality of the food you are eating.
And since the ratings will be labeled right up front, it should serve as a helpful guide, right?
Well, not everyone thinks so. Not least, the folks at Nutrition Advocacy for Public Interest (NAPi).
In March, they wrote to the Ministry of Health and public policy think tank Niti Aayog on the matter. And they highlighted one key thing.
Their argument is that it’s easy to manipulate star ratings. For example, a high-sugar candy bar might add some nuts and boost your rating. They could also substitute other alternative sweeteners for sugar and create a product that ranks higher.
In fact, some doctors even suggesting that a one-star rating could create a positive perception. The consumer might think, “Hey, at least there’s some good in it and it’s not all bad.”
But what if the star system has worked elsewhere? Wouldn’t it be useful to know?
Well, they have tested it in Australia and let’s say it is it hasn’t worked at all outside.
Mark Lawrence, a professor of nutrition for public health at Deakin University in Australia, told The Ken that 73% of ultra-processed foods on supermarket shelves had ratings of 2.5 stars or higher. Indeed, said Lawrence, who studied the implementation of the star rating, the ratings conveyed nothing of value, nutrition-wise, to the consumer. [what does a 1.5 star really tell you about the actual sugar content?].
In Australia, products like Diet Coke (full of artificial sweeteners) and ‘sugar-free’ jelly beans received four and five stars respectively, while a packet of olives received one star and free-range eggs received four stars.
So you can see why some people aren’t happy with the new recommendation. But if a star-based system doesn’t work, what would?
Well, symbols.
More specifically, color-coded symbols with interpretive text (eg, vegetarian and non-vegetarian symbols). In fact, the country’s food regulator, FSSAI, published a preliminary document in 2018, in an attempt to revise food labeling and display guidelines. And he had some pretty strong suggestions.
For example, consider the recommendation to color-code some basic nutrient information: if a serving contains sugar, salt, or fat above a specific threshold (for example, 30% of the recommended daily intake), then a block red would indicate to consumers that they are not necessarily making a healthy choice. After all, if you consume a sizable portion of your daily recommended sugar intake with just one candy bar, then you should be entitled to know up front that you’re making that choice. In fact, the food regulator even noticedthat they “You can introduce a color-coding system in addition to marking foods ‘Red’ within specified thresholds from time to time.” Perhaps alluding to the fact that the blocks can be colored red, orange, and green, depending on the health risk they pose.
Also, guess what? When Chile’s regulators introduced a similar system to the country, they found some very optimistic results. One year after the country introduced the alarm system“per capita consumption of carbonated beverages [stuff such as Pepsi and Coke] reduced by 24.9% in the first evaluation”.
So yeah, maybe that’s what we really need if we’re trying to kick our unhealthy snacking habits.
However, for now, FSSAI is still pushing the star-based system. Will this change? we do not know
Until then…
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