NEW DELHI: There is a need to introduce mandatory Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling (FoPNL) for all pre-packaged foods to enable consumers to make informed food choices and strengthen public health protection, said a policy brief released by ICMR on Wednesday.
Highlighting that voluntary labelling is unlikely to achieve adequate population-level impact, The Let’s Fix Our Food (LFOF) Consortium, led by the Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN), said India should adopt a simple interpretive warning-label system that is consistent with global best practices.
The Consortium also suggested to Indian policymakers to urgently consider adopting a clear, legally enforceable and science-backed definition of high fat, sugar, and salt (HFSS) foods to enable consistent application across taxation, labelling, advertising and school food policies.
Recommending extending the 40 percent GST rate to all HFSS foods using a consistent regulatory definition, the Consortium, which includes various national and international bodies, like WHO, UNICEF, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), and World Food Programme (WFP), said that an operational HFSS classification framework should be adopted to identify unhealthy foods that contribute to disease burden.
The evidence shows that this single measure could prevent approximately 9.23 million disease cases over 30 years and save an estimated US$18 billion in healthcare expenditure, the policy brief ‘Priority Policy Actions to Promote Healthier Diets and Food Environments for Children and Adolescents in India’ said.
“India could reduce the incidence of diet-related diseases by 1.72 per cent, avert roughly 0.63 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) annually, save around US$601 million in healthcare expenditure each year and generate cumulative health-system savings of nearly US$18 billion over 30 years,” the Let’s Fix Our Food policy brief said.
It further said that a 92 per cent increase in food and beverage tax revenue under the 40 per cent scenario could create substantial new fiscal space.
“A portion of this revenue should be earmarked for adolescent nutrition programmes, healthy school food environment initiatives and community-level nutrition interventions, thereby aligning fiscal policy with nutrition programme strategies.”
Noting that health taxes are “most effective when consumers can easily identify HFSS foods,” the policy brief said that implementing mandatory FoPNL, as proposed by the FSSAI, would complement the price signal created by health taxes by enabling consumers to identify less healthy products quickly and make healthier, more informed food choices.
It also said that taxation of HFSS foods should be complemented by comprehensive restrictions on the marketing and advertising of HFSS foods to children and adolescents.
“Together, these measures reduce both the affordability and the appeal of unhealthy foods, helping to discourage unhealthy consumption patterns and promote healthier dietary behaviours from an early age,” it added.
The policy brief, which presents a roadmap for creating healthier food environments and improving dietary behaviours among India's children and adolescents, also suggested removing GST entirely on fruits, vegetables and pulses to complement HFSS taxation by encouraging healthier substitutions.
“Although this would reduce tax revenue, it could improve dietary equity and support India’s most nutritionally vulnerable populations,” it added.
The policy brief pointed out that post-COVID there was a significant rise in HFSS consumption and fat intake among Indian children and adolescents.
“This underscores the urgent need to strengthen nutrition literacy, accelerate multisector convergence and intensify enforcement of school food environment regulations,” it added.
It pointed out that between 2006 and 2019, the market for ultra-processed foods (UPFs) increased from US$0.9 billion to US$38 billion – an almost 40-fold increase – driven by expanding digital retail, aggressive marketing and shifting consumer preferences.
Speaking at the occasion, Dr. M Srinivas, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, said, "Evidence-based, multisectoral policy action is essential to create healthier food environments for children and adolescents. Collaborative initiatives such as the Let's Fix Our Food Consortium are important for addressing the growing burden of overweight, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases in India."
Dr. Bharati Kulkarni, Director, ICMR-NIN, said, "The policy recommendations reflect the collective efforts of researchers, policymakers, development partners and young people working towards healthier food environments for India's future generations."
Prof. (Dr.) K Srinath Reddy, Founder President, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), underscored the need for comprehensive policy interventions addressing the commercial, social and environmental determinants of unhealthy diets, and called for sustained action to protect children and adolescents from obesogenic food environments.
Marie-Claude Desilets, Chief of Nutrition, UNICEF India, said, "Malnutrition is no longer only about undernutrition. Rising obesity, driven by unhealthy diets, challenges healthy growth among children and adolescents. Every child has the right to grow up in a food environment that enables them to thrive, learn and achieve their full potential."