Dr Rekha Harish
We all know the true meaning of word JUNK and try to throw away all the junk from our house, but when it comes to JUNK FOOD, we often tend to eat it or even store it for our own consumption later! Isn’t it strange??
Hence , my tagline is JUNCS IN BIN AND NOT WITHIN
Over the last few decades our kitchens have shifted out of her homes to a significant extent. With increasing availability of convenience food in ready to eat/ ready to cook packets, available at our convenience 24×7 anywhere and anytime, It becomes imperative to stay informed what is going inside our body from these colorful packets, which have been often advertised by our favourite celebrities and may have a misleading tagline too! Think before buying & consuming- is it worth to consume these at the cost of our health?
This exercise requires reading & understanding all the information on the food packet while simultaneously being nutritionally literate to know our upper limits of especially sugar,salt & fats in a day before we decide to buy these products and consume them
Food labeling is a crucial aspect of nutritional literacy & forms an important public health tool to enhance public health awareness,as it assists to understand nutritional value & compare nutritional value of similar food products for a healthier food choices based on relevant nutrition information.
The Role of International and National Bodies
To ensure the accuracy and consistency of food labels, international and national organizations set guidelines and standards. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) collaborate to advise the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the body responsible for establishing international food labeling standards. In India, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) sets science-based standards to regulate food manufacturing, storage,distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food.
Front-of-pack (FOP) labelcontains the most catchy information andconstitutes the principal display,as information written is easily noticeable ,itsbetter understood & is more consumer friendly. An ideal FOP should be aligned with National public health policy,based on transparent & easily accessible principles,have interpretive based on Symbols/Colors/Quantifiable elements.It should have easy to understand design,Nutritional criteria chosen should enable easy interpretation,help with appropriate comparisons in the food group and uniformlyapplicable,be Consumer friendly , surpassliteracy/language/age barriers,&assist in quick assessment by clear information.
Nutritional information on the Back-of-pack is not consumer friendly as its generally difficult to read & understand as there are too many numbers which require decoding & complex calculation.
While primary purpose of FoP should be to well inform the consumers, Back of pack information is more suited for compliance and enforcement. Ideally both Front & Back of pack should complement each other.
Critical Information on Food Labels
1 ‘Date of Manufacture’ & ‘Date of Expiry’ or ‘Best Before’ date for freshness.
2 List of ingredients to ensure that you are not purchasing the product with any of the constituents, you are allergic to. Common allergy-causing ingredients include casein in milk, tree nuts including peanuts, eggs, fish, shellfish, soybean, and proteins in wheat.
3 Most of the food packets come up with one or more Claim/Declarations.Its observed that adding health claims to front labels makes people believe a product is healthier than the same product that doesn’t list health claims, thus affecting consumer’s choices. Manufacturers maybe dishonest and use health claims that are misleading,while in some cases out-and-out falseeg. claiming better growth and development in children, making a child strong/tall, reducing risk of diseases, help in weight reduction etc. Further,fat-free /diet does not mean calorie-free, rather lower fat items may have as many calories as full-fat items. Please verify the claims such as fat free, zero cholesterol, sugar free,low sodium, trans fat free, etc by carefully reading the Nutrient ingredient list and the Nutrient Profile table thoroughly to confirm its authenticity.
It is important to be aware that any “health claim,” “nutrition claim,” or “risk reduction” claim made on the label are thoroughly scrutinized by the FSSAI authorities & validated by test data. As per the rules, the following is the definition for “health claim,” “nutrition claim,” and “risk reduction” claim:
* “Health claims” means any representation that states, suggests, or implies that a relationship exists between a food or a constituent of that food and health and include nutrition claims which describe the physiological role of the nutrient in growth, development, and normal functions of the body, other functional claims concerning the specific beneficial effect of the consumption of food or its constituents, in the context of the total diet, on normal functions or biological activities of the body and such claims relate to a positive contribution to health or the improvement of position or to modifying or preserving health, or disease, risk reduction claim about the consumption of a food or food constituents, in the context of the total diet, to the reduced risk of developing a disease or health-related condition;
* “Nutrition claim” means any representation that states, suggests, or implies that a food has particular nutritional properties which are not limited to the energy value but include protein, fat carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals;
* “Risk reduction” in the context of health claims means significantly altering a significant risk factor for a disease or health-related condition.
4 Look for logos of- a) FSSAI
b) ISI mark for packaged drinking and mineral water and certain processed foods such as infant food, milk and skimmed milk powder
C ) AGMARK for all agricultural products such as vegetable oil, pulses, cereals, spices, honey, fruits and vegetables
d) GREEN dot for vegetarian food&BROWN dot for non-vegetarian food, including egg
e) Logo for fortified food-‘Fortified’ food means essential nutrients such as vitamins and minerals have been added to the food. Eating fortified wheat flour, rice, milk, oil, and salt helps to meet our daily requirement for nutrients that help growth and good health.
A great way to help the environment, while fulfilling our food needs is by using products that can be recycled. The recyclable sign on the packet also can be identified.
FSSAI has launched an initiative called ‘Jaivik Bharat’ to ensure genuineness of food labelled and sold as ‘organic’.The ‘Jaivik Bharat’ logo, a common identity for organic food, helps us identify authentic organic food.
5 INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE: Must be read& followed for best results.
6 STORAGE CONDITIONS: Must be read & followed where to keep food product & for how long.
7 SERVING SIZE & NET WEIGHT: The net weight of the packet is the total amount of product contained in packet.The serving size may be given as the number of servings per container/packet or the weight/volume in gm/ml.The Nutrition Facts Label information is generally based on one serving or per 100g /100ml.Hence,check how many servings/g/ml you are actually consuming to understand the amount of calories,sugar,salt& fat consumed.
8. USE NUTRITION FACTS TO CHOOSE PROCESSED FOODS Nutrition Labels describe the nutrient content of a food to help the consumer make healthier food choices and the recommendations are for healthy people. They are also helpful to those who live with health conditions that require diet changes. For eg. someone with renal disease/hypertension who needs to monitor his sodium, or someone with diabetes counting his carbohydrates can read the label and know whether a certain food can fit in their diets or not.
In May 2010, the WHO released a set of recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children and called on governments worldwide to reduce the exposure of children to marketing that promotes unhealthy foods and beverages. As the definition of ‘unhealthy’ is debatable, an objective method of describing foods as healthy or unhealthy was needed. A nutrient profile model does just that and therefore, a nutrition profile model for South East Asia was developed. The model is consistent with international guidance for preventing chronic disease and is a simple system with clear cut-offs for defining which foods are not suitable for advertising to children. (To be Continued)
(The author is former Prof & Head Pediatrics GMC Jammu & HIMSR New Delhi)
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