India’s Food regulator to introduce junk food label, soon popular snacks such as Lays’ potato chips, samosas will be classified as junk food.
India will become one of the few countries in the world that will label packaged food as junk, depending on the levels of fat, salt and sugar.
“We are trying to define junk food based on proportion of salt, sugar and fat content… The calculations are based on the Indian diet chart and recommended diet as well as international standards,” Pawan Kumar Agarwal, CEO of Foods Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
The FSSAI came into prominence after the Nestle Maggi fiasco.
With India going through higher degree of urbanisation, millions of Indians in small towns and cities are acquiring new tastes (burgers, pastas, etc). This has led to a debate on introducing a ‘fat tax’ on junk food.
This is why FSSAI is mulling introducing a special label for junk food.
However, it will be a challenge to regulate local shops selling Indian fried snacks such as samosa and cutlets. “That is the challenge… There are practical difficulties in the Indian context for street food. You can do it in potato chips, but if someone sells a samosa on the street, it is difficult,” FSSAI.
