Obesity and other Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are rapidly surging in our country, creating a health crisis among people of almost all age groups. This can be attributed mainly to changes in diet, lack of physical activity and lifestyle.
In this context, it has now been found that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had considered introducing prominent red warning labels for foods high in sugar, salt and saturated fat. But this move was opposed by consumer giants, as per a Reuters report.
The proposed move was aimed at making nutritional information easier for consumers to understand at a glance. Instead of requiring shoppers to study detailed nutrition tables printed on the back of packets, colour-coded warnings could immediately indicate when a product contains high levels of nutrients associated with health risks.
The food-safety regulator said in August that it had abandoned a push for colorful warnings on the front of food packaging, as such warning labels don't account for how Indian cuisine has more intense flavors than Western food and instead proposed that companies display a black-and-white table of sugar, fat and salt content, the report mentioned. The industry executives reportedly argued that such warning labels were confusing and ineffective, and instead urged regulators to focus on encouraging 'portion control'.
It is “very simplistic” to believe that a consumer who doesn’t already read ingredient lists “will be so informed by seeing a symbol or an icon on the label” that their diet significantly improves, Reuters quoted senior Coca-Cola India executive Mili Bhattacharya's statement at the March 19 meeting with FSSAI.
She further mentioned that warning labels were pointless as they would not prevent consumers from consuming sugary and salty foods and they were unnecessary because Indian doctors had done a good job teaching their patients what food should be avoided.
Based on a petition by public health activists, the Supreme Court is viewing the FSSAI rollback decision as a matter of people's health, and obesity worries were high.
According to UNICEF’s Child Nutrition Global Report 2025, obesity has, for the first time, surpassed underweight globally as the most common form of malnutrition among school-aged children and adolescents. Today, one in ten children worldwide, nearly 188 million, live with obesity. Once considered a condition of affluence, obesity is now spreading rapidly in low and middle-income countries, including India.
