New Delhi: As the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is all set to roll out Health Star Rating (HSR) labelling for packaged foods, the organisations working for the consumers' rights have urged the apex food regulator to hold wider consultations with different stakeholders prior to the implementation of as front of pack labelling (FOPL) from 2023 onwards.
According to the minutes of the meeting, which was held over FOPL held on February 15, the FSSAI has decided to introduce HSR on front of the pack for packaged foods on a voluntary basis for four years and after the completion of the transition period, it would be mandatory.
However, most of the stakeholders representing consumers' rights opposed the FSSAI's move and sought additional time for comments as they intended to analyse the effect of these thresholds after subsuming sub-category wise thresholds. Given that consumers perceive HSR in a positive way, the representatives from consumer organisations have urged FSSAI to review its 'decision' and consult different health organisation prior to giving final shape to HSR model of FOPL suggested by IIM-A.
The consumer activists, present in the meeting, also stressed making FOPL mandatory right from its inception instead of giving four years of time to industry in the name of transition period as cases of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity among children are on the rise and intake of excessive salt and sugar are the cause of concern for such diseases. The consumer activists also pointed out that the HSR label, which the IIM-A study recommends, is adopted in Australia and New Zealand and the experience from both countries is very disappointing. The stakeholders further added that different thresholds may be required for dairy products in specific, while the representatives from consumer organisations as well as WHO stated that the levels are quite high in comparison with the earlier draft notification.
Present in the meeting, George Cheriyan from CUTS International, also a member of FSSAI as a special invitee, opposed the recommendation for use of HSR model in India due to the reasons that health star ratings are taken with a positive connotation and do not meet the intention of FOPL regarding warning for negative nutrients, which may be overwhelmed by positive nutrients in the algorithm design for HSR. Amit Khurana of CSE also opposed the HSR labelling.
Ashim Sanyal of Consumer Voice suggested FSSAI to wait for the findings of AIIMS-UNC, which is also carrying out a study on the FOPL, in order to take any further decision on the format.