Swadeshi Jagaran Manch

::Central Office:: “Dharmakshetra”, Sector-8, R.K. Puram, New Delhi - 110 022

Ph.: 011-26184595, E-Mail: swadeshipatrika@rediffmail.com, Website: www.swadeshionline.in 

02-08-2024

Press Note Bold Lettered Excessive Harmful Ingredient on Label-A Welcome Step.

We, at Swadeshi Jagaran Manch wish to sincerely thank Hon’ble Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Food and Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) for their approval to bring changes in nutritional information labelling on packaged food items, proposing that total salt, sugar and saturated fat should be displayed in bold letters with bigger font size.

It’s notable that this change has come in place of FSSAI’s initial decision  to adopt a model of Front of Packing Label (FOPL) of food items and proposed ‘Health Star Rating' (HSR). Since then this issue was under public scrutiny and debate, initiated by Swadeshi Jagran Manch. Debate was whether we should adopt HSR or better option would be adopt warning about harmful food. It was then highlighted that Health Star Rating may not be able to explain the harmful contents of the packaged food; rather it may be misleading the consumers, as ‘stars’ would be misunderstood as healthy, whereas food item may actually be highly harmful. FSSAI, under pressure from the ultra-processed food industry, had then decided that each food should be rated from half to five stars. From the minutes of the meeting it is evident that while taking this decision, FSSAI then had chosen to ignore consumer interest and has given undue importance to the opinion of large food processing industries.

Swadeshi Jagran Manch pleaded with the government that companies use excessive amounts of sugar, salt (sodium) and saturated fats to entice customers and make children get addicted to these products. It’s not a mere coincidence that various non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including diabetes, blood pressure, kidney and liver diseases are increasing like epidemic, as consumption of packaged food is increasing in the country.

People lack awareness about harmful contents of the packaged food, especially ultra processed food, and are inadvertently consuming these harmful food items. Therefore it is the responsibility of the government to inform people, which food products are safe to eat and which are not.  If such a warning is posted on foods products having excess of sugar, salt or saturated fats beyond a WHO’s prescribed threshold limit, consumers will be able to learn and take more informed choices about their food.

An online petition was started by Swadeshi Jagaran Manch urging decision makers, namely, Minister of Health and Family Welfare and FSSAI to give up idea of Health Star Rating on FOPL and instead make it mandatory to give warning, about salt (sodium), sugar and saturated fats, to curb incidence of NCDs in the country, in the interest of public health.

We understand that this move of the government can go a long way in saving our people including youngsters, from harmful food and significantly reducing the incidence of NCDs like Diabetes, hypertension, cancer, kidney and liver diseases and many others. Thank you Minister of Health and Family Welfare once again. 

Dr Ashwani Mahajan

National Co Convener, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch