By
Tricity News
Chandigarh July 14,
2021:- Department of Community Medicine
& School of Public Health (DCM & SPH), PGIMER, Strategic Institute of
Public Health Education & Research (SIPHER) & Global Health Advocacy
Incubator (GHAI) organized a "Sensitization Workshop of Journalists on the
important issue of 'Front of Package Labelling (FOPL)'". FOPL as the name
suggests refers to a label on packaged food & beverage
which displays if the product is HFSS - High in fat, salt and sugar. The
label also needs to mention critical nutrients. The idea of FOPL is to help
buyers make informed & healthy choices while buying packaged food &
beverages by providing accurate, simplified, standardized, and comprehensive
information on the pack labels.
Dr
Sonu Goel, Professor at DCM & SPH, PGIMER, Chandigarh & Principal
Investigator, 'Strengthening Management of Hypertension Services Project'
(SMHSP) said at the sensitization workshop of journalists, "Non
Communicable Diseases (NCDs') like high BP, diabetes etc are the major cause of
morbidity and mortality around the world. According to the World Health
Organization (WHO), 41 million deaths each year globally are caused due to
NCDs'. Be it fresh preparations or pre-packaged foods, excess consumption of
food that is high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) is often the major risk factor
for obesity and NCDs'. Considering the demand and relevance of FOPL, this
sensitization workshop was held to orient journalists for prioritizing FOPL and
ensure its wider advocacy and coverage in print, electronic and digital
media." Dr Goel urged that the government should introduce mandatory
nutrient declarations in food packages in consonance with the WHO guidelines.
Dr
Goel added that there is a need to enforce stricter compliance of FOPL guidelines
by the packaged food & beverage industry. The label should also include an
endorsement from a government or scientific organization to increase its
credibility.
Apart
from Dr Sonu Goel, many other experts shared their viewpoints on the
subject.
Dr
Sanjay Bhadada, Professor and Head, Dept. of Endocrinology, PGIMER, Chandigarh,
spoke about 'Metabolic disorders & their relation with high intake of
salt, sodium, sugar'. Dr. Bhadada said that FoP labeling can remarkably
reduce diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and many such NCDs' which have a link
to intake of 'harmful food'. All appropriate food content should be mentioned
on packaged food.
Experts
at the workshop informed that according to the National Family Health Survey
(NFHS) 5 almost 17% Indian adult male population and over 14% adult female
population is diabetic. In 2014, the Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR)
& National Center for Disease Informatics and Research (NCDIR), in their
research reports said that over 28% of Indians suffer from high blood
pressure and over 48% of the urban population and 18% of the rural
population is overweight.
Dr
Harvinder Kaur, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Paediatrics, PGIMER,
Chandigarh apprised the media present about 'Junk food &
childhood obesity'. She said that according to worldwide statistics the
prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents aged 5-19 has risen
dramatically from just 4% in 1975 to over 18% in 2016. A proper system of
FoP labeling can help parents make correct choices while deciding to buy
packaged food which in turn will help in reducing ailments like 'childhood
obesity' which is exacerbated among children by 'over consumption' of junk
food.
Dr
Nancy Sahni, Senior Dietician, Dept. of Dietetics, PGIMER, Chandigarh shed
light on "Relevance of reading food labels &
introduction of 'Front of Package Labelling'. She said that people find it
challenging to understand nutritional information panels on packaged food. In
2019, Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had proposed in its
draft regulations, traffic light labelling for packaged food items based on
their fat sugar and salt content - red is for unhealthy, amber for
moderately healthy and green for healthy products.
The authority in December 2019 notified the new labelling and display
regulations making it mandatory to present nutritional information on the
principal panel in bigger font size.
Unveiling of a newsletter titled 'Rational Drug Logistic System for Hypertension Control' was also held during the workshop.
