Expressing concerns over the continuous rise in the number of cases of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), lawmakers and experts have stressed on the importance of consumer-friendly warning labels on packaged food items and beverages. They are of the opinion that clear Front of Pack warning labels (FoPL) should be made mandatory so that people can make healthy and safer choices. According to the ICMR State Level Disease Burden Initiative, 2016, non-communicable diseases NCDs, such as heart attack, stroke, diabetes and cancer accounted to an estimated 60 lakhs deaths, constituting 62 per cent of the total mortality of that year. Diets high in salt, sugar and fats is a major risk factor for these chronic and difficult to treat ailments.
BJP Member of Parliament (MP) from Rajya Sabha, Sushil Modi batted for stringent health warning on the unhealthy packaged foods specifying that it has HFSS ( High in Fat, Sugar and Salt). “The warnings should be on the lines of those on the cigarette packets that ‘smoking is injurious to health’,” he said while participating at a first-of-its-kind roundtable discussion on “F0PL, impact of packaged foods on health” organized by the Institute for Governance, Policies and Politics (IGPP) at the Constitution Club of India (CII).
BJP MP Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Dr. DP Vats, who also served as Director and Commandant of the Armed Forces Medical College, said that the sedimentary lifestyle and increased consumption of packed food is presenting an imminent threat to the nation’s health and economy. He emphasised that this has lead in increasing diabetes among the people. Agreeing with his party colleagues, Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash called for launching an intensive awareness campaign for FoPL particularly in rural India where packed foods have penetrated at an alarming level.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), around 58 Lakh Indians die every year due to preventive NCDs. In fact, the global health body too has favoured the FoPL saying it works best when it is made mandatory and applies to all packaged products, the label is interpretative, simplistic and readily visible, guided by a strong nutrient profile model. According to the Global Nutrition Report, 2021 (GNR) released last month, as many as 12 million people died prematurely in 2018 due to risks linked to consumption of an imbalanced and unhealthy diet. These risks included non-communicable diseases (NCD).
Talking about the strategic role the FoPL can play in helping bring down the NCDs, Dr Naval K Vikram, leading diabetologist and professor at the department of medicine of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi said – “This would avert an impending NCD crisis such as diabetes, heart disease and various forms of cancer, mainly caused by consumption of processed and packaged foods high in salt, sugar and fats. Warning labels would guide people to make healthier choices and even bring down their consumption of these unhealthy foods.”
Director of the IGPP, Dr. Manish Tiwari said childhood obesity is on the increase in the country. He said in India around 1.5 crore children are suffering with childhood obesity. If appropriate steps such as making FoPL mandatory are not taken, India would soon become the world’s Capital of Childhood Obesity.
Those who participated in the roundtable other than mentioned above included ruling party MPs from Rajya Sabha Shiv Pratap Shukla, Mahesh Poddar, Ram Kumar Verma and BJP Lok Sabha MP, Sanjay Seth among others.