The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is making headlines recently because it released a draft notification for a system of front-of-pack labelling known as the Indian Nutrition Rating (INR). This regulatory initiative aims to help consumers make healthier food choices by mandating specific labels on pre-packaged foods.
About the Indian Nutrition Rating (INR)
The INR requires pre-packaged foods to carry a star rating, much like electronic goods carry energy-efficiency ratings. The goal is to discourage consumption of foods high in sugar, salt, and fats.
Types of Ratings
The INR classification divides into five broad types:
The Daily Intake Guide highlights the proportion of daily nutrient recommendations present in one serving of the packaged food.
The Nutritional Information Panel discloses the quality of each primary nutrient in the food.
Traffic Light Labelling uses colors like red, orange, or green to classify the level of fats, salt, sugar, etc., in the food.
The Warning Label indicates if the levels of salt, sugar, and fats are high without detailing the quantities.
The Star Rating gives 1 to 5 stars based on the healthiness of the product – 5 stars indicate the healthiest product and 1 star the least healthy.
Rating Process
Every food item will receive scores based on the contribution of energy and content of saturated fat, sugar, sodium, fruit and vegetables, nuts, legumes, millets, dietary fibre, and protein per 100gm of solid or 100ml of liquid foods. Solid food with a score more than 25 will get half a star, and those scoring less than negative 11 will receive five stars.
Logo Placement
The logo displaying the star rating should be placed close to the name or brand name of the product on the front of the packaging.
Implementation
Food businesses can add interpretive information alongside the star-rating logo, detailing the contents of energy, sugar, saturated fat, and salt. To generate the star-rating logo, businesses need to submit the nutritional profile of their products on FSSAI’s FoSCoS (Food Safety Compliance System) portal.
Exempted Products
Certain food products, such as milk and its derivatives, vegetable oils and fats, fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, fresh and frozen meat, eggs, fish, flour, and sweeteners will not have to display the star rating. Carbonated beverages without any energy or sugar are also exempt from declaring the rating.
Significance of the Rating System
According to a study, several Latin American countries that implemented warning labels saw changes in consumption patterns. For example, Chile reported a 24% drop in sugary drink consumption. Another analysis of 100 studies suggested that nutrient warning labels are more effective than traffic lights and nutri-score labels.
