Health experts have said that the government should issue a ‘warning’ label on packaged junk foods instead of health star ratings, as they are misleading and do more harm to customers than good.
A “health star rating” is a labelling system that grades packaged foods on a scale of one to five stars. If the government is serious about the “epidemic” of obesity and non-communicable diseases, the consumer needs to be cautioned about junk foods through ‘warning’ labels, said public health experts.
According to Sunita Narain, director general of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), health star ratings are intended to mislead consumers by the powerful food industry.By pushing these, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will give licence to glorify junk foods, which is the opposite of what should be done.
CSE was part of this committee. FSSAI then came up with a draft regulation in 2018, which had strict thresholds – limits to know unhealthy levels based on those developed by the WHO for countries like India in the South-East Asia Region.
Due to industry pressure, FSSAI came up with another draft in 2019. The food industry was still not pleased and this draft was repealed. From January to June 2021, stakeholder consultations were held on the labelling design to be adopted, thresholds to be made applicable and nutrients to be displayed.
The latest consultation took place in February, during which it was made clear that FSSAI plans to go ahead with the ‘Health Star Rating’. The sole objective of the stakeholder consultations, which were heavily dominated by the packaged food industry, was to come up with a labelling system that is industry-friendly.
While FSSAI has been insensitive to the information needs of the consumer, it has also ignored global best practises and evidence around it.
Instead, in an orchestrated way, through the scientific panel and commissioned studies, it is now getting ready to adopt a labelling system that is considered the least effective and rejected across the world. Health star ratings are depicted based on an algorithm at the back-end, which is not known to consumers, CSE said, adding that it is only adopted voluntarily in a few countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, and only some food products carry it.
The CSE said it has been rejected in several other countries as it can mislead the consumer and be easily manipulated by the industry. The proven best practise in front-of-pack labelling is nutrient-specific ‘warning’ labels, experts said.
They have been simple and effective in discouraging junk food consumption. Several Latin American countries, Canada, and Israel have already adopted warning labels. Many other countries are considering them. Among them, the best known are symbol-based warning labels such as that of Israel.
The CSE said that these would be the most suitable for India, as they would transcend the literature and language barriers. “We have submitted our concerns to the FSSAI. It can’t allow a system that will effectively nudge the consumer to make unhealthy choices. It will mislead the consumer because of its design, algorithm, and inclusion of positive nutrients in the calculation. It can’t allow relaxed limits and voluntary adoption, “Narain said.