SC’s decision for mandatory nutritional labels on packaged foods welcomed

New Delhi: Health experts on Friday welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to make nutritional labels on packaged foods mandatory.

Demanding clear nutritional information on packaged foods, a bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan, this week, set a three-month deadline instructing the Centre to finalise and enforce updated regulations on food labelling.

“In the distant past, each family prepared their own food and had control over its ingredients. However, in the current era, a significant portion of food consumed by any family is made by other people. This means the consumer has little control over what exactly is consumed when they purchase these food items outside. It is therefore crucial that the food maker specifies all the ingredients on the label,” Dr. Rajeev Jayadevan, Convener, Research Cell, Kerala State IMA, told IANS.

In July 2024, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) approved a proposal to make a bolder and bigger display of nutritional information regarding total sugar, salt, and saturated fat on packaged food items.

The proposal called for packaged food items to carry the amount of total sugar, salt, and saturated fat “in bold letters and relatively increased font size”.

Meanwhile, the Centre has assured that the FSSAI has already begun the process of revising the regulations, having received over 14,000 public comments on the proposed labelling norms.

The labelling “must be in a format that the common man can understand”, said Jayadevan. In addition to packaged foods, the labelling norms must also extend “from large scale manufacturers to roadside eateries that sell food including snacks and namkeens”, the expert said. (IANS)

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