What Is Safe To Eat? Know Why Warning Label Is Important On Unhealthy Packaged Food

Indian consumers often ignore to read ingredient details in a packaged food product, leading to unhealthy food consumption knowledge. Recently, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) devised a plan to label ultra-processed foods with a Health Star Rating (HSR), where healthier food products will get a high star rating. Now, the consumers would be able to see a star rating behind every food packet regulated by FSSAI to understand whether the food is healthy or not.

The Commonwealth Association for Health and Disability (COMHAD) alleged this plan and mentioned that the Health Star Rating system would confuse and mislead the customers. COMHAD officials added that stars couldn't be used to decide whether the food is healthy to eat or not. Instead, an interpretative warning label in front of every packet should be used to make it easy for customers to reject unhealthy foods and accept healthy products. A Medicine Journal that favours the warning label suggests that the visual warning label on food products is easy to understand and will impact the consumer.

Unhealthy Foods Affecting Health

A professor from Delhi University, Ashwani Mahajan, has also started a campaign against the decision of FSSAI to introduce an HSR system for ultra-processed foods. Mahajan said, "We have been eating nutritious and healthy foods, unprocessed and real, our diet has always been very balanced. But in recent times, the swing in ultra-processed foods has significantly increased where the market is loaded with ultra-processed foods, which are aggressively marketed, affecting the health of both children and adults."

Many research and studies conducted by industry experts also suggest that the Health Star Rating system on food products might confuse or mislead consumers. At the same time, a pictorial warning label will impact consumers' decision to buy an unhealthy product. Many countries, including Chile, Peru, Israel, Mexico, and Uruguay, have already made warning labels a mandatory practice. In contrast, countries like Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, and Venezuela will soon implement this practice.

Mahajan, while emphasising India's health condition, said, "It's to be noted that companies use high amounts of salt (sodium), sugar, and saturated fats to entice customers and make them addicted to these products. In a country like India, diabetes, blood pressure, kidney and liver diseases are prevalent due to excess sugar, salt/sodium and saturated fats in the food." People lack such awareness and unknowingly consume these harmful food items. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the government to tell people which food products are safe to eat and which are not, he added.

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