There is going to be a big change in the rules of packaged food and drinks available in India. The country's Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has submitted a new proposal to the Supreme Court. In this proposal, a red six-cornered mark will be placed on the front side of the boxes or packets of chips, cold drinks and other packaged items. Its purpose is that the common people, especially children and youth, should be able to know at first sight that the packaged goods they are buying contain a large amount of things that are harmful to health.
This matter came to light when the Supreme Court took a very strict stand in this regard. The court had reprimanded the government and FSSAI and asked them to give their final decision on record within two weeks. The court had also warned that if the right steps were not taken this time, the court itself would give its decision. After this FSSAI gave a compliance affidavit in the Supreme Court and said that they are introducing a new system of displaying nutrition related warnings on the front of the packet i.e. Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labeling (FoPNL). Till now, nutrition information was written in small print on the back of the packet, which no one could read properly, but now this warning will be visible directly on the front of the packet.
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Design and rules of red mark
According to FSSAI rules, if any packaged food item contains harmful substances more than the prescribed quantity, then a red six-cornered mark will be printed on the front of the packet. This will be decided on which thing is more in that food. Like it would be clearly written on it, 'Too much fat', 'Too much sugar', or 'Too much salt'. If a packet contains more than one thing, it will be written on it like 'more fat and more salt' or 'more fat and more sugar'. Additionally, sweetened drinks will be required to carry a separate 'very sweet beverage' warning label. The letters on these warnings will be one point larger than the information on the back of the packet so that they can be clearly seen from a distance.
This new rule will not be implemented suddenly all at once. It will be implemented gradually in two parts so that companies can get time to change their products and people can also get used to it. In the first phase, those products will be kept in which at least two or more things like excess fat, sugar and salt exceed the prescribed limit. Along with this, sweet drinks will also be included in this phase. After this, in the second phase, all those food items which exceed the limit of any one of these nutrients will be added.
What things are exempted from this rule?
FSSAI has clarified that some things have been completely kept out of these warning labels. This includes items that are made from only one ingredient or are naturally high in fat, sugar, or salt. It mainly includes ghee, edible oil, salt, sugar, jaggery and honey but the condition is that they follow the safety rules of other food items.
To set these warnings and limits, FSSAI has based the rules of the 2024 guidelines of major health and nutrition institutions of the country. According to these, it will be seen which food is more bad for health.
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What effect will this have on people's health?
This case has started after a PIL filed by an organization named '3S and Our Health'. The organization had raised its voice in the court that packaged food items should have clear and strict warning labels. Now in this case, the chief lawyer of the organization, Rajiv Shankar Dwivedi is reading this affidavit carefully. They will file their reply in the court after thoroughly understanding the public opinion and reactions.