One out of every 2 packaged food items on India’s leading quick commerce platforms is junk food. The research findings by social media community platform LocalCircles also come accompanied by a survey in which Gen Z parents overwhelmingly called on the authorities for a Red identifier displayed for such highly processed food items listed on apps to help consumers make healthy food choices.
This comes even as the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) earlier this year issued new dietary guidelines for Indians, warning “ultra processed food consumption is associated with [being] overweight and higher risks of heart diseases, heart attacks, stroke and diabetes.” The guidelines also warned that such foods hastened the process of ageing.
The new guidelines had taken note of the fact that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) could not regulate such processed foods high in fat, sugar and salt since the terms have “not been defined.”
LocalCircles says it did its research on the predominance of ultra-processed or ‘junk foods’ on e-commerce and online grocery apps and websites “to understand the magnitude”. The exercise involved creating a master database which identified all packaged ultra-processed or HFSS foods and using that as a reference when calculating the percentages for each site/app. For the exercise, LocalCircles also sourced information from consumers in different parts of the country, since listings vary from place to place depending on availability.
Based on current listings, the results are not reassuring. LocalCircles says that between online grocery and Q-Com platforms, at least 40 per cent of packaged food listings were ultra-processed or had HFSS content. A product is identified as HFSS (high in fat, sugar and salt) if the declared value of these ingredients is such that the product does not
satisfy the value of energy (kcal) from total sugar less than 10 per cent of total energy or from saturated fat, 10 per cent of total energy and sodium less than 1 mg/1 kcal.
In the case of the market leader in quick commerce, the percentage was as high as 62 per cent, while the other leading players all had more than half of the packaged foods listed coming under the ‘processed’ definition or having ingredients similar to those.
“(This) indicates why it is essential to identify such foods on their apps for the consumers,” said a note issued by LocalCircles.
The survey of Gen Z parents, 24,000 of them across the country, saw half of them admitting either that their offspring were regularly ordering processed food items via commerce sites/apps or that they do not know. But 9 out of 10 parents surveyed were clear that a RED identifier displayed for ultra-processed or HFSS foods on eCommerce/online grocery apps would help Gen Z in making healthier food choices.
“Given the rising trend of consumers shopping online for packaged foods, there is need to ensure that along with all the information about the ingredients, manufacturing date, best before date, calories and other relevant information about the ultra-processed food products, parents in the survey believe that online platforms should have a RED identifier next to such food listings thereby helping all consumers in making informed choices,” said LocalCircles in its statement.
The ICMR and NIN guidelines had warned that the lack of fibre and poor micronutrients make these foods unhealthy, while they contribute to high calorie intake as they are often high in fat. “UPFs are consumed in larger quantities by a large population since these have a unique taste, high palatability and low cost, as well as are easily available,” according to the guidelines.
However, despite the warnings and known effects, there has been no stringent move from the likes of FSSAI to address the issue.
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