Health experts welcome SC's decision for mandatory nutritional labels on packaged foods

Demanding clear nutritional information on packaged foods, a bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan, this week, set a three-month deadline instructing the Centre to finalise and enforce updated regulations on food labelling.

"In the distant past, each family prepared their own food and had control over its ingredients. However, in the current era, a significant portion of food consumed by any family is made by other people. This means the consumer has little control over what exactly is consumed when they purchase these food items outside. It is therefore crucial that the food maker specifies all the ingredients on the label," Dr. Rajeev Jayadevan, Convener, Research Cell, Kerala State IMA, told IANS.

In July 2024, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) approved a proposal to make a bolder and bigger display of nutritional information regarding total sugar, salt, and saturated fat on packaged food items.

The proposal called for packaged food items to carry the amount of total sugar, salt, and saturated fat "in bold letters and relatively increased font size".

Meanwhile, the Centre has assured that the FSSAI has already begun the process of revising the regulations, having received over 14,000 public comments on the proposed labelling norms.

The labelling "must be in a format that the common man can understand", said Jayadevan.

In addition to packaged foods, the labelling norms must also extend "from large scale manufacturers to roadside eateries that sell food including snacks and namkeens", the expert said.

“It’s a welcome decision by the highest court of India. What is needed is the FSSAI to quickly give India's 140 crore people a definition of foods high in fat, sugar, and salt (HFSS), and work towards front-of-pack labelling (FOPL) that indicates if sugar, salt, or fats are high," Dr Arun Gupta, a paediatrician, told IANS.

"FSSAI should transparently make public the 14,000 public comments and its analysis in public," added Gupta, a Convener of Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest (NAPi) -- a national think-tank on nutrition.

The top court ruling comes amid an increase in cases of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and cancer.

Notably, the Economic Survey 2024-25 also highlighted the alarming rise in NCDs in India, directly linking them to the rapidly increasing consumption of UPFs.

"Food habits significantly impact long-term health. Conditions like hypertension, obesity, and diabetes result in huge morbidity and mortality long term, and are directly linked with food habits and lifestyle," Jaydevan said.