By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi, Dec 19, 2021: Consumer organizations from across India met in New Delhi December 19 to demand among other things and an immediate regulation that stipulates proper front of package labeling (FoPL).
The labeling regulation was part of an eight-point charter of demands adopted by around 65 participants from 30 consumer organizations from 20 states who attended the national consumer convention.
The FoPL will help consumers identify products correctly, quickly, and easily that contain excessive sugars, fats, and sodium.
The convention, organized by Consumer Protection Association Agartala in partnership with Consumer Coordination Council (CCC) of India, and facilitated by the CUTS (Consumer Unity and Trust Society) International, plans to submit the charter to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
Observing the FoPL regulation has been pending for long, the convention demanded simple, interpretive ‘high in’ style warning labels that consumers can easily understand and make healthier choices regardless of their age, literacy proficiency or socioeconomic strata.
The convention also stressed the need to reduce the risk for diet related non communicable diseases, with a format based on nutrient profile model with scientific threshold limits and WHO SEARO (South-East Asia Region Organization) model.
George Cheriyan, director of the CUTS International, while addressing the convention, said that Right to Information and Right to Choose are fundamental consumer rights. FoPL is a tool which provides consumers information and alert about unhealthy ingredients, and help to choose healthy products, he said and called for regulators to cautiously move forward but at a more rapid phase while choosing an ideal label for packaged food products for consumers in India.
The FSSAI has already spent number of years discussing and consulting stakeholders, it is high time to move fast without any further delay and come out with a strong regulation, Cheriyan added.
He also noted that most countries have started to reap the benefits from positive consumer behavior since the implementation of the FoPL. It has helped those governments to save money from direct and indirect healthcare costs.
At the same time, he acknowledged that no single action will change the consumer’s preference for unhealthy diets and the growing crisis of non-communicable disease in the country. Multiple actions needs to be taken by the government in close cooperation with the stakeholders. A regulation for a strong, simple, mandatory FoPL without any further delay is a must.
In India, FoPL was first recommended in 2014 by an expert committee constituted by FSSAI. After years of consultations, in May 2018, FSSAI published a draft Food Safety and Standards (Labeling and Display) Regulations, 2018.
A year later, FSSAI issued draft notification Food Safety Standards (Labeling and Display), Regulations, 2019. In December that year, FSSAI delinked FoPL from general labeling regulations.
Cheriyan presented the charter at the opening session held at New Delhi’s Gandhi Peace Foundation. It was released by Prasanta Kumar Panda, chairman, Consumer Coordination Council, an apex body of consumer organizations in the country in the presence of Amrit Lal Saha, president, Consumer Protection Association.