New Delhi: India’s apex food safety regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), is reconsidering its plans to introduce a mandatory Health Star Rating (HSR) on all packaged food items, ThePrint has learnt. HSR is a front-of-pack labelling system that rates the overall nutritional profile of packaged food.
The development comes a month after social media influencer Revant Himatsingka in a video criticised the endorsement of Cadbury Bournvita as a “health drink” and claimed that the brand had “miscommunicated” the product’s “nutritional value” and sugar content on its packaging.
While Bournvita owner Mondelez India had dismissed Himatsingka’s claims, and the influencer deleted the video saying he had received a legal notice, the matter led to calls for greater accountability in the processed and packaged food industry.
Highly-placed sources at FSSAI told ThePrint that although the decision is not directly linked with the Bournvita controversy, the episode could have spurred the regulator into calling a fresh meeting with stakeholders later this month for deliberations.
“After coming up with the draft proposal on HSR, we have received over 10,000 comments from different stakeholders and are currently going through them,” a senior FSSAI official told ThePrint. “However, deliberation is also still on and a meeting is being planned soon on whether health star rating or pictorial warning labels on processed food would be a better idea. We will also actively take the Union health ministry’s view on the issue.”
If the FSSAI does decide to go ahead with its decision, it would be the first time that a health star rating is introduced in the country.
ThePrint reached G. Kamala Vardhana Rao, the chief executive officer (CEO) of FSSAI, via email for comment. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
Also Read: Majority of Indian consumers prefer front-of-pack label than FSSAI’s star rating, survey finds
Varying views on Health Star Rating
A system that rates packaged and processed food between one and five, the HSR is aimed at providing key nutritional information of a product on the front of packaged foods to allow consumers to make comparisons between products within the same category.
In March last year, FSSAI had declared its intention to introduce HSR for packaged food items on the back of a report by the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, about the impact of front-of-the-pack labelling for packaged foods. The study found that the HSR format was best suited to helping Indians choose healthier packaged food items.
The FSSAI, while considering the move, pitched it as a “progressive step” to help reduce India’s burden of obesity and non-communicable diseases. In November 2022, the regulator also asked for public feedback on the policy.
Several health and nutrition activists, however, had argued against HSR, saying the rating system would only confuse the consumers, according to media reports. Instead, they called for a more “scientific and health-friendly” policy, arguing that a front-of-the-package pictorial warning would serve the purpose better.
Despite the arguments against it, many experts believe that the health star rating system would be effective.
“There is enough evidence internationally to show that the countries which have adopted pictorial warnings on packaged food have done better in terms of improving the nutrition standards of people,” Dr. Arun Gupta, convener of the Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest (NAPi), a Delhi-based think tank that works in the field of public nutrition, and a former member of PM’s Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges, told ThePrint.
In its report submitted to the FSSAI last year, the Indian Council of Medical Research’s National Institute of Nutrition — India’s leading research institute on nutrition — too said that HSR warning labels had had greater impact in altering the health perception of the food products, arguing that the absence of even one star would make them more conscious decision-makers.
The Bournvita controversy
In the caption accompanying the video about Bournvita he had shared on 1 April, social media influencer Revant Himatsingka wrote: “Should the government allow companies to blatantly lie on their package? Parents are getting their children addicted to sugar at a young age, and the children end up craving sugar throughout their lives.”
The video, which was widely shared on platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn, drew reactions from several online users, former cricketer and MP Kirti Azad, who expressed his intent of taking legal action against Cadbury.
Himatsingka eventually deleted it and apologised to Bournvita.
“I have decided to take down the (Bournvita) video after receiving a legal notice from one of India’s biggest law firms on 13 April. I apologise to Cadbury for making the video. I did not plan or intend to infringe any trademark or defame any company nor do I have the interest or resources to participate in any court cases and I request MNCs to not take this forward legally,” he wrote in his post.
Meanwhile, although there was no official response from FSSAI over the issue, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights issued a notice to Mondelez saying it has violated norms related to the declaration of sugar content in a packaged food product.
Speaking to ThePrint, Ashim Sanyal, chief operating officer (COO) and secretary at the Consumer Voice, a consumer voluntary action group based in Delhi, pointed out that the episode would not have occurred if FSSAI had stronger rules when it came to the sugar, salt and fat content.
“That’s the reason why we are pitching for (pictorial) warning labels on all processed food,” he told ThePrint.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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