Front-of-the-pack labelling will discredit Indian ethnic foods, says Indian Sellers Collective

The Indian Sellers Collective on Thursday raised concerns over the proposed front-of-the-pack labelling regulations stating that it will discredit Indian ethnic foods and take over by the reformulated western packaged products. The umbrella industry body, said that its study revealed a large section of Indian ethnic foods will get lower health star ratings making them look unhealthy compared to western packaged food products.

Rating methodology

As per the study, products such as Mysore Pak, Peanut Chikki, Instant Poha and Mathura Peda will garner a health star rating of only 0.5 as per the proposed methodology in the draft labelling regulations released by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Indian sweets such as Patisa and Soan Papdi will get a rating of 1 star. Meanwhile products such as Besan Laddu, Rasgulla, Khakhra, Bhujia Sev, Dharwad Peda, Instant Bhel and Mishti Doi will get health star ratings in the range of 2-2.5 stars, the industry body poined out.

Indian Nutrition Rating System

Under the proposed FOPNL there will be an INR (Indian Nutrition Rating System) and foods will be given ratings based on their nutritional information per 100 grams or 100 ml. The ratings will be from a half-star or a 0.5 rating meaning ‘least healthy’ to five stars being the ‘healthiest’.

Abhay Raj Mishra, Member & National Coordinator, Indian Sellers Collective, said, “Indian foods have evolved over centuries and are naturally designed to suit climatic conditions and genetic composition of Indians. But the proposed regulations disregards these facts, as it is a copy and paste regulation from the west. FOPNL will systematically make western foods look good and will gradually destroy traditional Indian foods and Indian palate.”

The industry body argued that the proposed Indian Nutrition Rating System does not factor into the consumption patterns and habits of Indians, as it ranks all food items on 100 grams basis, making the method “unscientific. It added most of these Indian foods, such as Mysore Pak and Peda, getting an lower star rating are consumed in smaller single serves of say 20 grams. “There is a real danger of discouragement and disappearance of Indian traditional delicacies due to the onslaught of western foods,” the industry body added.

It also claimed that western foods of global player will end up getting better ratings following processes like reconstitution and substitution which are being granted exemption in the new system.

“For example, a chocolate health drink solid will have 40 grams of sugar per 100 grams but the same drink when reconstituted will only be shown to have 8.4 grams of sugar per 100 grams and will secure a rating of 3.5 stars. In comparison, a traditional Indian food, Instant Poha with 11 grams of sugar per 100 grams will get a rank of 0.5 or half a star, “the industry body pointed out.

Dhairyashil Patil, President, All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation (AICPDF),said, “FOPNL will impact the Indian packaged food MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise) and the millions of workers dependent on this traditional industry. Indian Foods with lower star ranking and classified as unhealthy will be rejected by Indian consumers on just face value of the product and they will rather favour supposedly healthier western food, which will be fortified and chemically substituted by MNCs to secure a better ranking.”

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