The Union Health Ministry has asked all government departments and central institutions to display visible warnings about the oil, sugar, and trans fat content in popular Indian snacks like samosas, pakoras, jalebis, and chai biscuits.
This comes as a clarification from the Health Ministry after media reports about mandatory warning labels for these foods. “There have been some media reports claiming that the Union Health Ministry has directed to issue warning Labels on food products such as samosa, jalebi and laddoo. These media reports are misleading, incorrect, and baseless.”
What is the advisory?
After initial misinformation that Indian snacks would receive health warnings similar to those on cigarette packs, the Health Ministry clarified that they had not issued any warning labels for popular Indian snacks such as samosas, jalebis, or laddoos.
Instead, the sale of these kinds of Indian snacks will be accompanied by health advisory boards at the location of the sale. These boards are expected to include the details of the fatty oil, trans fats and sugar composition of the various snacks sold.
As per the statement issued by the MoH, the advisory mentioned other messages promoting healthy food such as fruits, vegetables and low-fat options and making suggestions for people to opt for physical activity, such as the use of stairs and short exercises.
Thus, the boards, as per the advisory’s instructions, will not only entail details regarding the breakdown of the composition of the foods but also the health impacts of these elements and alternative food suggestions and precautionary exercises for biological issues that could potentially be caused by the overconsumption of these foods.
What is the Intention?
The initiative is part of the ministry's flagship initiatives under the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases, according to the statement. "This initiative is part of the Ministry’s flagship initiatives under the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD)".
The NP-NCD was launched by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 2010 in 100 districts across 21 states with an objective to prevent and control major NCDs.
The guidelines of this programme for 2023-2030 as published by the MoH entail a message by Minister of Labour and Employment Mansukh L. Mandaviya stating, “Under the National Health Mission, the National Programme for the Prevention and Control of Non Communicable Diseases is implemented to cater to common Non-Communicable Diseases, such as Cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and asthma, chronic kidney diseases etc.”
Mandaviya also added in his note that almost 63% of all deaths in the country are due to such non-communicable diseases.
The report also mentions that 55% of these deaths are premature. The goal of the program is to effectively curtail these numbers by managing lifestyles.
Thus, the implementation of these advisory boards at workplaces, lobbies, canteens and meeting rooms will help achieve the objective of “educating the community about healthy lifestyle and family-centric care for sustainable acceptance of healthy lifestyle and ensuring treatment adherence” as mentioned in the programme guidelines report.
The Health Ministry made it clear on Tuesday that the move is to act as a ‘behavioural nudge’ to consumers. These boards are meant to serve as daily reminders on fighting obesity, the burden of which is sharply rising in the country.
According to NDTV, the statement by the Health Ministry also called for printing health messages on all official stationery such as letterheads, envelopes, notepads, folders and publications to reinforce daily reminders on fighting obesity.
Projections suggest over 449 million Indians could be overweight or obese by 2050, pushing the country to become the world’s second-largest centre of obesity.
Recent data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) reveals that nearly 24% of women and 22.9% of men are now classified as overweight or obese—a sharp jump from 2015-16 figures. According to Financial Express India is battling a silent health crisis as obesity rates surge across all age groups, driving an alarming rise in early mortality linked to diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
