According to the affidavit the FSSAI presented to the Supreme Court, the proposal is to roll out the labelling in two phases. The first will apply to products that exceed the standard limits in two of the three additives and the second phase will extend the labelling to products that exceed the limits in at least one of the three. It is unclear when the new policy will begin and how long it will take for the transition. This is important since the first phase could offer considerable leeway for companies. A packaged product that has a high sugar content but not high levels of salt or fat — such as a standard cold drink — could escape the red hexagon, although its consumption is now acknowledged as harmful. Second, the FSSAI guidelines refer to added sugar and added saturated fat, which can offer an escape route to scores of “health foods” and breakfast cereals that have high sugar and saturated fat content embedded in the ingredients themselves.
Packaged fruit juices that purport to have no added sugar would, for instance, escape the red hexagon. But this, too, could be somewhat misleading. The juicing process in itself tends to concentrate natural sugars by removing the fibre, which causes sugar spikes. That could be harmful for borderline diabetics. Although most of the domestic demand for packaged foods in India is met from local producers, imported packaged foods are also appearing on Indian dining-tables in larger quantities. These, too, should be subject to similar labelling. Given the vibrant variety of local snacks that Indians consume — from laddoos to samosas, in which any or all these ingredients are lavishly used — the FSSAI would provide a signal service to the cause of public health by considering similar mandatory labelling in sweet shops and other establishments selling these products.
It is a moot point, however, whether enhanced labelling can actually deter consumption. For years, the statutory warning on cigarette packets did nothing to reduce smoking. Studies show that it was only after graphic pictorial warnings on packs were made mandatory that consumption dropped, with many smokers quitting, though in this case, steadily rising excise duty also played a part. Replicating this on food warnings will be difficult and perhaps avoidable. But the government has a wide array of public communication devices available to it to spread the word about healthy eating — television, radio, billboards, and digital media. A sustained long-term campaign to accompany the red hexagon rollout would go a long way towards educating an increasingly obese and unhealthy middle class of the virtues of healthy eating.
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