Consumer experts seek to blow the cover off food package labelling

Take a look at the packs of noodles, oats and snacks in your pantry. Does the label tell you how much of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of salt and sugar you would consume in a serving? If not, how helpful is that information, even if it is provided?

This, and many other concerns about food labelling, claims and advertising were discussed at a media workshop conducted by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in Delhi last week. The CSE has called for mandatory declaration of the quantity of salt/sodium, added sugar, saturatedand trans fats, nutrients per serving, serving size, number of servings in a pack, and standardisation of serving size for food categories to help per-serve information disclosure.

In its report ‘Food Labelling, Claims and Advertisements’, CSE highlighted how companies do not give the entire picture when it involves nutrition claims (See table). Nutritionist Ishi Khosla, who spoke, said some foods claim to be fat-free but are actually high in sugar, a fact which is not obvious.

Sunita Narain, Director-General, CSE, observed that countries such as the US, “the mother of processed food”, had legislation stipulating detailed disclosure of nutritional information. Most companies that make made these foods and beverages and marketed them aggressively in India were from the US, so why did they not follow the same policies here, she questioned.

The CSE has also recommended front-of-pack food labelling, colour-coded like traffic lights to signal high/low amounts of nutrients in relation to the RDA. It also asked for warning symbols to be put on the pack, as is done for tobacco products.

CSE wants celebrities to be barred from endorsing foods high in salt, sugar or fat. It also called for advertising in certain categories such as soft drinks (non-dairy, non-fruit-based sugar-sweetened beverages) to be disallowed. It wants food advertising to be approved prior to screening and restricting advertising on television to children and adolescents.

Pushpa Girimaji, consumer activist, said there were a number of laws, but they had failed to stop misleading ads from being used due to limited powers and lack of investigative facilities. These laws did not have a provision for corrective ads, “the most powerful weapon” against deceptive ads. She said the Consumer Protection Bill, 2015 held out some hope on these fronts.

Pawan Agarwal, CEO, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, said front-of-pack labelling had been approved in principle. Nutrition information will be mandated in new labelling regulations, though the subject of information per serving will be considered later.

On the subject of nutritional information being stated in regional languages, Sanjay Khajuria, Senior Vice-President - Corporate Affairs, Nestle India, said it will be examined, but also pointed out that the space available on packs was a constraint.

Brand strategy expert Harish Bijoor said it was totally unethical for celebrities to endorse foods and beverages. They must stick to what they know best, such as sports and entertainment, and not venture into arenas they know little about. Santosh Desai, veteran adman and MD and CEO of Future Brands, said preventive rather than punitive measures were needed in respect of such endorsements.

The writer attended the workshop at the invitation of the Centre for Science and Environment.

COMMENT NOW