This is the largest consortium yet to have come together to call on the Centre to impose curbs on foods that are leading to a rise in non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, obesity and cardiac ailments.
The front has demanded that such companies should not be part of policy decisions related to packaged foods. It has recommended legislation to define junk food and restrictions on the marketing of such products akin to that for infant foods, targeting the very young.
The group urged the government to set up an inter-ministerial group to frame guidelines against serving unhealthy foods in schools, hospitals, prisons and other public places.
“Existing regulatory policies on junk foods remain ineffective,” said Arun Gupta, convenor of NAPi, the national think tank on nutrition policy, while releasing a report on Friday entitled The Junk Push, which draws on the surge in consumption of ultra-processed foods.
Misleading advertisments a concern
Packaged foods companies that will likely be impacted by any policy changes include Nestle, Parle Products, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Britannia, ITC, Mondelez, Domino’s and Pizza Hut among others.
“The industry certainly wants regulation, but in the absence of consensus, it is tough to implement such policies,” said a senior executive at one of India’s largest packaged foods companies who didn’t want to be named. “On whether food companies should be part of policy decisions, there must be representation from the companies, as they are experts at dynamics of consumption of respective categories, which public health advocates do not understand.”
A Nestle India spokesperson said in an email: “We are yet to see the report and therefore not in a position to comment.”
Representatives of the consortium said advertising that employed celebrity endorsements and pushed unsubstantiated health claims or targeted children do not provide the “most important information” demanded by the Consumer Protection Act 2019 – detailed data upfront on the amount of sugar, salt or saturated fat in the contents.
“None of the legal frameworks or guidelines in India have the potential to stop most misleading ads of pre-packaged junk foods, or to ban misleading claims or warn people about the risks to health,” said Gupta, also a former member of the Prime Minister’s Council on India’s nutrition challenges.
Front-of-the-pack labelling stuck
The proposal by regulator Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSAI) to implement front-of-the-pack labelling with health star ratings remains at draft stage because of differences among food companies, health organisations and activists on the matter.
An FSSAI executive said: “We haven’t seen the report.”
The regulator has said previously that policies are formulated in consensus with all stakeholders, including food companies and consumer health groups.
“Policy making on front-of-pack labelling has not been free from food industry involvement,” said HPS Sachdev, epidemiologist and researcher. He added that food and nutrition policy development should be completely devoid of conflicts of interest.
PepsiCo, Britannia, ITC, Coca-Cola, Mondelez, Parle Products and Jubilant FoodWorks, which operates Domino’s Pizza, didn’t respond to queries.
An inter-ministerial committee set up by the Ministry of Consumers Affairs is looking into gaps in existing policies, but there is no update on the matter.
