 "food safety, FSSAI, food inspection,quality food, food quality, food")
The proposed Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) guidelines for front-of-pack labels (FoPL) have again taken centre stage after facing criticism from the medical fraternity and politicians. This time around, it is the MSME sector that is raising concerns against the norms.
Last September, following discussions with various stakeholders, the food regulatory authority proposed an Indian Nutrition Rating (INR) for FoPL draft regulations. INR is a star rating system that would assess the overall nutritional profile of a packaged food item and assign it a rating of anything from half a star to five stars.
MSME representatives believe that the proposed norms will allow big companies to dominate the Indian food market and will hamper the growth of the traditional food industry, as the rules will regard more than 85 per cent of Indian snacks, sweets and benerages as unhealthy.
Retailers and sellers associations expressed concerns that western foods sold by MNCs will get better ratings by following processes like reconstitution and substitution, which are being granted exemption in the new system.
The proposed norms are detrimental to local and regional manufacturers who earn their living selling naturally-made food items in packaged form and retailing them through available sales channels, say industry persons.
Sector representatives said the FoPNL is an instrument to discredit traditional delicacies from different regions of India, as they will receive low ranking. If implemented, the FoPNL regulation will end up disrupting the Indian food industry and negatively impact millions of farmers and poor unskilled retailers and their livelihood.
Devendra Agarwal from FMCG distributors and traders association said that these proposed FoPNL regulations will hurt the ranking of traditional delicacies from different regions in India.
For example, the north Indian Mathura peda, which is also a religious offering, will get a 0.5 star, and patisa will get one star. Delicacies popular in South India such as Mysore Pak will get a 0.5 star, as will delicacies that are popular across India like Peanut Chikki and Instant Poha. Arguably the most famous Indian sweet and a must-have during Diwali, Soan Papdi, will get 1 star, Agarwal added.
Other than the above items, packaged snacks like bhujia, dhokla and murukku, sweets like gulab jamun, ras malai and barfi and soft beverages like nimbu pani and lassi will also be impacted, according to sector representatives.
Since, traditional Indian cuisines use salt, sugar and fat, for various scientific and customary reasons, these items will ostensibly be marked ‘unhealthy’ under the proposed norms, said Shriram Baxi, general secretary, Federation of All India Distributors Association (FAIDA).
Criticising the Indian nutrition rating system, he added that it would push consumers to reject traditional foods and prefer zero sugar cold drinks over nimbu paani, pastry over rasgulla, chips over bhujia and rice crispy cereal over poha.
Sector associations are also of the opinion that the proposed rating system does not factor in the consumption patterns and habits of Indians, as it ranks all food items on a 100-gram basis, making the method unscientific.
“In practice, most of the Indian foods getting an unfair rating are consumed in smaller single serves of say 20 grams, like in the case of traditional sweets like Peda or Mysore Pak,” Baxi said.
MSME sector executives also opined that western packaged food companies will get a boost and might capture the lucrative Indian market as companies making items with a high or similar amount of salt and sugar will easily modify the nutrient composition of their food products to secure a better health star rating.
“Big food companies with global reach use substitutes and chemicals to penetrate consumer markets across the globe. They leverage advanced technology, global knowledge and competencies to easily modify the nutrient composition of their food products in order to secure a better health star rating,” said Abhay Raj Mishra, member & national coordinator, Indian Sellers Collective, an umbrella body of trade associations and sellers across the country.
For example, a food item loaded with sugar can be made to improve its star rating by the process of reconstitution and adding ingredients like nuts, artificial vitamins and minerals. Local manufacturers, on the other hand, either do not have the means and resources to change the constitution or cannot do it as it will change the taste of the product completely, Mishra added.
Mishra also said the draft notification by FSSAI provides a list of solid foods/liquid foods that will be exempt from FOPNL. However, the exemption list disregards Indian origin food product categories and instead pushes western products which are high on sugar, salt and fat.
Also, there were reports that FSSAI might consider warning labels over star ratings. However, it is still unclear to the industry executives about the regulator's move.
Last September, following discussions with various stakeholders, the food regulatory authority proposed an Indian Nutrition Rating (INR) for FoPL draft regulations. INR is a star rating system that would assess the overall nutritional profile of a packaged food item and assign it a rating of anything from half a star to five stars.
MSME representatives believe that the proposed norms will allow big companies to dominate the Indian food market and will hamper the growth of the traditional food industry, as the rules will regard more than 85 per cent of Indian snacks, sweets and benerages as unhealthy.
Retailers and sellers associations expressed concerns that western foods sold by MNCs will get better ratings by following processes like reconstitution and substitution, which are being granted exemption in the new system.
The proposed norms are detrimental to local and regional manufacturers who earn their living selling naturally-made food items in packaged form and retailing them through available sales channels, say industry persons.
Sector representatives said the FoPNL is an instrument to discredit traditional delicacies from different regions of India, as they will receive low ranking. If implemented, the FoPNL regulation will end up disrupting the Indian food industry and negatively impact millions of farmers and poor unskilled retailers and their livelihood.
Devendra Agarwal from FMCG distributors and traders association said that these proposed FoPNL regulations will hurt the ranking of traditional delicacies from different regions in India.
For example, the north Indian Mathura peda, which is also a religious offering, will get a 0.5 star, and patisa will get one star. Delicacies popular in South India such as Mysore Pak will get a 0.5 star, as will delicacies that are popular across India like Peanut Chikki and Instant Poha. Arguably the most famous Indian sweet and a must-have during Diwali, Soan Papdi, will get 1 star, Agarwal added.
Other than the above items, packaged snacks like bhujia, dhokla and murukku, sweets like gulab jamun, ras malai and barfi and soft beverages like nimbu pani and lassi will also be impacted, according to sector representatives.
Since, traditional Indian cuisines use salt, sugar and fat, for various scientific and customary reasons, these items will ostensibly be marked ‘unhealthy’ under the proposed norms, said Shriram Baxi, general secretary, Federation of All India Distributors Association (FAIDA).
Criticising the Indian nutrition rating system, he added that it would push consumers to reject traditional foods and prefer zero sugar cold drinks over nimbu paani, pastry over rasgulla, chips over bhujia and rice crispy cereal over poha.
Sector associations are also of the opinion that the proposed rating system does not factor in the consumption patterns and habits of Indians, as it ranks all food items on a 100-gram basis, making the method unscientific.
“In practice, most of the Indian foods getting an unfair rating are consumed in smaller single serves of say 20 grams, like in the case of traditional sweets like Peda or Mysore Pak,” Baxi said.
MSME sector executives also opined that western packaged food companies will get a boost and might capture the lucrative Indian market as companies making items with a high or similar amount of salt and sugar will easily modify the nutrient composition of their food products to secure a better health star rating.
“Big food companies with global reach use substitutes and chemicals to penetrate consumer markets across the globe. They leverage advanced technology, global knowledge and competencies to easily modify the nutrient composition of their food products in order to secure a better health star rating,” said Abhay Raj Mishra, member & national coordinator, Indian Sellers Collective, an umbrella body of trade associations and sellers across the country.
For example, a food item loaded with sugar can be made to improve its star rating by the process of reconstitution and adding ingredients like nuts, artificial vitamins and minerals. Local manufacturers, on the other hand, either do not have the means and resources to change the constitution or cannot do it as it will change the taste of the product completely, Mishra added.
Mishra also said the draft notification by FSSAI provides a list of solid foods/liquid foods that will be exempt from FOPNL. However, the exemption list disregards Indian origin food product categories and instead pushes western products which are high on sugar, salt and fat.
Also, there were reports that FSSAI might consider warning labels over star ratings. However, it is still unclear to the industry executives about the regulator's move.
