PTI
New Delhi
The Supreme Court has asked the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which has proposed phased implementation of front-of-package labelling (FoPL) on packaged foods, to come up with more clarifications on the planned labels of “nutrients of concern”, fat, sugar and salt.
FoPL is nutritional information graphic on food packaging that can assist consumers in making an informed decision about food purchases and healthier dietary choices.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran on Thursday also asked the Centre how it plans to increase nutritional literacy in schools while flagging that children are under acute risk of developing unhealthy
eating behaviours.
“In connection with this, we would like the Union to respond on how schools plan to incorporate through curriculum, initiatives, workshops etc, (i) the manner in which information provided in packaged food items, including nutritional information, FoPL etc., must be interpreted, and (ii) other aspects relating to nutritional literacy,” according to the court order uploaded late Thursday night. The matter has been posted for hearing on
September 28.
The top court was hearing a plea of the public charitable trust ‘3S and Our Health Society’ which sought directions to the Centre, states and Union territories to implement mandatory FoPL on packaged foods.
The FSSAI had earlier told the top court that it proposed to provide a prominent front-of-pack warning label in red for food products high in added saturated fat, added sugar and salt.
In a compliance affidavit filed last month, the FSSAI said the two-phased proposal is intended
to provide a simple, prominent and easily comprehensible warning to consumers regarding food products which are high in specified nutrients
of concern.
The FSSAI’s affidavit stated that the FoPL is intended to be implemented in phases to facilitate both “consumer acceptability” and “provide the industry adequate time
for reformulation”.
With that aim, Phase I is set to only cover products which are high in two or more of the specified nutrients and specified sweetened beverages, and Phase II is set to extend the label to products high in any one of these nutrients, it said.
