Front-of-pack labels can destroy the ethnic foods industry: FSNM
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is now facing strong opposition from the snack foods segment, which is intensely objecting to the FSSAI’s proposal to implement front-of-pack warning labels with a star rating on all packaged foods.
The namkeen and snack industry claim that it would “destroy” the country’s ethnic foods industry. The Federation of Sweets & Namkeen Manufacturers, which represents mid-size and large companies including the Haldiram Group, Bikanervala, Balaji Wafers, and GreenDot Health Foods, has written to FSSAI chief executive S Gopalakrishnan, stating that the proposed labelling model would hurt a majority of companies making foods such as chips, namkeens, and ethnic sweets.
According to Vikram Agarwal, MD of GreenDot Health Foods, which owns the Cornitos brand of salty snacks, the new proposal will be a big deterrent to Indian snack and sweets companies. “Consumers take their informed decisions, and they can be advised on the quantity of consumption but not given outright warnings on packs.” “Consumption of salt, sugar, and fat changes every hundred kilometres in India,” Agarwal said.
The labelling draft has proposed that packaged foods be given star ratings of one to five, classifying them as good, not good, or unhealthy based on their salt, sugar, and fat content.
In a letter dated November 10 to the FSSAI CEO, the Federation said that India’s traditional sweets and snacks were associated with festivals and customs and were made of fat, salt, and/or sugar.
“With the proposed model of front-of-pack labelling, a majority of packaged foods like peanut chikki, gajak, upma mix, and besan laddu will fall under the category of 0.5–2.0 stars and will be classified as high in fat, salt, and sugar for at least one nutrient, and this will impact 85% of the Indian traditional foods,” said the letter.