Stakeholders consultation on ‘Front of Pack Warning Labels (FOPL) on Unhealthy Packaged Foods

Consumer activists, government officials, doctors and consumers in general came together in various states across India on the second week of March, 2022 for a stakeholders’ consultation on front of pack labeling for packaged foods organized by based Consumer VOICE with various state partners.

The country as a whole is burdened with NCDs and cardio vascular diseases. The crisis is directly linked to excessive consumption of processed food that are high in sugar, salt and saturated fats. India is also one of the fastest growing markets for ultra-processed packaged foods. Many of these pre-packaged foods are processed with high levels of added sugars, sodium, saturated fats, and refined carbohydrates. Research has found these nutrients of concern are connected to NCDs directly.

In order to tackle the growing burden of nutrition-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs), government-led strategies and policies have been introduced to improve the diet in the population. Among the variety of possible interventions, Front-Of-Pack nutrition labels (FOPLs) have received growing attention from public authorities, and are now considered one of the key policies to tackle Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) like diabetes, hypertension, obesity, cardiovascular diseases etc. Globally and in India, this account for almost 67% of the deaths.

The workshops sensitized the consumers in the states on the importance of Front of Warning lables and the need to have them on unhealthy packaged foods.