New Delhi, Mar 25 (PTI) Rajya Sabha Congress MP Ranjeet Ranjan on Wednesday urged the government to mandate prominent display of information about sugar, salt and additives on the front part of the packaged food with colour codes for better understanding of people.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the House, Congress MP said the country is facing a serious health crisis.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, around 100 million people in the country are suffering from diabetes, she said.
She also cited the National Family Health Survey, which says every fourth adult in India is afflicted with obesity.
“This is not just data, it is a warning that food habits are making us unhealthy,” she said.
The Congress MP said the problem is due to lack of understandable nutritional information.
Food packets do contain such information about food items but it is provided in small print on the back of the packet and in complex language, she said.
Ordinary consumers find it difficult to understand the information provided on the packets, she said.
“If the front of the packet itself uses red-yellow-green colours to indicate which elements are present in higher or lower amounts, then any person can easily understand it,” Ranjan said.
She demanded a clear and effective policy on packaged food, and information about the food items should be on the front of the packet in clear and large letters.
The Congress member asked the government to make a colour code warning system on food packets in line with WHO recommendations mandatory. PTI NKD NKD DR DR
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