According to the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), the FSSAI’s draft regulation on front-of-the-pack nutritional labelling (FOPNL) will affect small sweet and namkeen manufacturers in a negative way. CAIT has written a letter to health minister Mansukh Mandaviya, citing intense concerns about this regulation.
This September, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued draft regulations for FOPNL for packaged food companies. It proposes to introduce the concept of five-star ratings to provide information about the nutritional value of the products to consumers. The regulator has sought comments from stakeholders on the regulations.
The industry body has requested that the FSSAI give immediate consideration to a draft notification issued by the agency for the printing of the Indian Nutrition Rating (INR) on food packets as part of a labelling exercise, with healthy food items receiving a higher rating.
CAIT National Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal stated that while this move appears logical, it was made with the best of intentions to provide quality and nutrient-dense food to the people of India. However, the proposed rules fail to take into account the realities of the food trade and various consumer spending parameters. “The said rules are an attempt to run the food trade with one stick, though India is a land of great diversity,” he added.
In fact, crores of small halwai, food operators, sweet and namkeen makers, and others cater to the requirements of about 80 percent of the population of the country. Any legislation or regulation that may be drafted to regulate them with one yardstick will end with the closure of this large number of small sweet and namkeen manufacturers, traditionally known as halwai and bakers, which will further result in the unemployment of a large number of workers who work with these small halwai and sweet namkeen manufacturers.
Khandelwal commended the health minister for considering the submissions made by the CAIT. Earlier, Indian Sellers Collective, an umbrella group of trade associations and sellers across the country, had opposed the FSSAI’s draft regulation on the FOPNL, saying that it would badly affect the MSME packaged food industry.