New Delhi: Amid increasing scrutiny of added sugars in pre-packaged foods, the Union health ministry has instructed the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the apex food regulator, to introduce norms mandating warning labels on food packages. These labels reflecting the sugar content will be along the lines of pictorial health warnings found on cigarette packets, ThePrint has learnt.
The instruction from the ministry follows a massive controversy which broke out last month when it emerged that international food giant Nestlé adds sugar in its powdered baby food sold in middle- and low-income countries like India but not in rich nations.
Nestlé’s Cerelac is a top-selling baby food brand in the country, targeted towards infants and toddlers aged 6-18 months.
Senior officials in the health ministry said that instructions had been issued to the FSSAI to make amendments in the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, mandating a yellow colour strip on packets clearly depicting the percentage of sugar content in specified size.
“We have suggested that the width of the yellow strip will be in proportion to the percentage of sugar content in the product. For instance, if a product has 10 percent sugar in it, one-tenth of the front package will be yellow in color with “10% sugar” written in bold on it,” a senior official told ThePrint.
Another official explained that the idea was to warn consumers clearly about the choice of the product they are about to make when they are buying it.
“A scientific panel in the FSSAI is already examining whether the norms related to sugar in packaged food need to be revisited and is likely to make some changes in the coming weeks. We have asked the regulator to also incorporate the mandatory design rule in its upcoming front of package labeling (FOPL) policy,” the official added.
In response to a query by ThePrint, the information, education and communication department of the FSSAI, however, said that it has no information on the proposal yet. ThePrint also reached out to G Kamala Vardhan Rao, it’s chief executive officer over phone calls for his response. This copy will be updated if and when he replies.
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Setting a limit
As of now, under the regulator’s FSS (Foods for Infant Nutrition) regulations sucrose and/or fructose are not to be added unless needed as a carbohydrate source, and provided the sum of these does not exceed 20 percent of total carbohydrate. There is no such limit, however, for food products meant for higher age groups.
But India’s apex nutrition research institution, Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN) in its dietary guidelines for Indians released this month — and revised again last week — has for the first time specified that all packaged solid foods’ threshold for sugar should be 5 percent energy from added sugar, and not exceeding 10 percent energy from total sugar.
In case of liquid foods or beverages, the revised dietary guidelines say that threshold for sugar has been calculated at 10 percent energy from added sugar, and not exceeding 30 percent energy from total sugar, including naturally present sugar in fruit juices or milk.
These guidelines, released after a gap of 13 years, also recommend that no sugar should be given to infants up to the age of 2 years while individuals over two years old should limit their sugar intake to just 5 percent of their daily caloric intake — in line with the recommendations by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Nutrition experts say that there may be a need to establish a regulatory framework for reformulation of processed foods to reduce sugar content and to stop advertising of sugar-sweetened beverages and foods high in sugar to children and adolescents.
‘Need policy intervention’
The NIN has said that consumption of sugar in quantities that contribute over 5 percent of total energy intake per day, or 25 g per day — based on average intake of 2,000 Kcal per day — is defined as “high” sugar.
It has said that the WHO is considering further revising its recommendation and reducing calories from sugar to less than 5 percent of Kcal per day.
“If possible, added sugar may be completely eliminated from one’s diet as it adds no nutritive value other than calories. Calories are healthy only when accompanied by vitamins, minerals and fibers,” the latest NIN guidelines say, pointing out that 56 percent of the disease burden in India is diet-related.
According to Seema Gulati, head of the nutrition research group at Delhi-based non-profit National Diabetes, Obesity, and Cholesterol Foundation, high sugar intake is directly linked to various health issues, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases.
By reducing sugar content in prepackaged foods, the country can significantly lower the prevalence of these conditions and improve overall public health, she said.
Gulati also stressed that as many consumers are unaware of the high sugar content in prepackaged foods, policies that mandate lower sugar levels help protect consumers from unknowingly consuming excessive sugar, promoting healthier dietary choices.
Nutritionist Suparna Ghosh-Jerath pointed out that as our food environment is transitioning, people are accessing more and more processed and ultra processed foods in the name of convenience.
“Cooking foods as in the traditional Indian cuisines, from minimally processed ingredients, that are less refined, high in natural food components is a healthy practice. Several processed and ultra-processed foods (industrially formulated edible foods derived from natural foods or synthesised from other organic substances with added food additives) are also high in added sugars,” she added.
Jerath, who is associated with the New Delhi-based public health research body the George Institute for Public Health, also said that regulations are therefore needed to reformulate these foods to make them low sugar.
Cut-offs of sugar content of processed foods are critical components of food labels, she pointed out, suggesting that sugar-sweetened beverages and high sugar content food manufacturers should not be allowed to sponsor sporting events.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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