Food packet labels will tell you how much to eat

new delhi — India’s food regulator agency, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), is set to roll out new guidelines for food packet labelling. Soon the Indian consumer would be in a position to know as he munches potato chips, by how much he is likely to shorten or add years to his life.

Pawan Agarwal, CEO, FSSAI, recently said: “We are in the process of changing labelling regulations. Detailed labelling of food packets would tell a person how much of recommended dietary allowance is met in one serving.” This works essentially as a guideline for the consumer so he can decide by which bite his nutrition needs are met.

The new regulations make it easier for the consumer to keep a tab on the intake of his calories. The packet will give information on the exact percentage of the recommended dietary allowance of say sugar, fat, salt or other micro nutrients in consuming a single serving of that product. This means the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) on the packet would provide a reference range to assess daily nutrient intake in a healthy person. The information would factor in the calorific variation in age and gender.

Currently, the food packets do mention total calories contained, and also the quantity of fat, sugar, salt, carbohydrates and a few other nutrients. But the label is silent on “how much of a healthy person’s daily needs are met after consuming a serving and how much of it is left,” said Agarwal.

The food services market in India is projected to grow from Rs3.09 trillion in 2016 to Rs4.98 trillion by 2021, expanding at an annual average rate of 10 per cent, according to a NRAI-Technopak report. The new requirements might affect the growth of the packaged food industry. The recommendations of food experts’ panel need the Central government’s clearance, and the food industry is likely to offer resistance to what they consider as a “huge task.”

“We broadly term high-fat, highsugar items as junk that lead to obesity and other complications, but this panel is getting into the details and coming up with a standard definition,” said Agarwal.

The food regulator agency is quite ambitious in its goals. They would like to bring restaurants and hotels into the ambit of good and bad calories. As of now, a few restaurants, especially those in fivestar hotels, do have separate menus for low-calorie food, besides offering sugar-free and salt-free options on demand. But they do not declare details of calories and nutrition. Basically they do not advise the customer what the ingredient is doing to the body while eating.

Agarwal said he does not see this as a compulsory measure. He expects establishments to work at this on a voluntary basis.

It is not clear when exactly the agency would enforce the food packet regulations. “It will be difficult for us at this stage to say when the regulations will be implemented, as the process requires several layers of consultations and approval. But it would be sooner than later,” Agarwal said.

Also, it is not clear how successful these measures in India would be. The informal food sector in India runs into billions of rupees. A street vendor, for example, is not likely to pay much heed about the cancerous qualities of repeatedly used oil to fry samosa or pakora, now defined as junk food.