Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 16: Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) and Non Communicable Diseases Prevention Academy (NCDPA) has appealed to ensure that Front of Pack Food Labels (FOPL) should have nutrient specific warning labels to safeguard our children’s health.
IAP, a body of 35000 Indian pediatricians and its subspeciality chapter NCDPA today expressed their deep concern over the way the current food labeling practices are harming the children’s health. In a handout issued today, the two bodies said unhealthy Ultra Processed Foods (UPFs) are deliberately positioned to be highly attractive to children through wide publicity. They said this popularity is in the face of scientific evidence that every 1% increase in purchase of UPFs results in a 0.25 % increase in the prevalence of obesity.
“Therefore, from the pediatric perspective, it is important for young children also to be able to interpret food labels. Further, food labeling in India is done in reference to the average daily requirements of an adult or adolescent. Though labeling is done as ‘healthy’, parents assume that it is equally ‘healthy’ for their young children without always being careful with the amounts of calories, salt, sugar and saturated fat. By eating such food, a toddler or young child whose energy requirement is half that of an adult, can end up getting unhealthy amounts of nutrients,” claimed IAP and NCDPA.
They said that to safeguard our children’s health, FSSAI should ensure that FOPL should have nutrient specific warning labels, which are easily understood by everyone including children, regardless of literacy or knowledge of any particular language. They further demanded that food labeling should be mandated in accordance with the lower cut-offs values of daily requirements with proportional decreases in amount of sugars, saturated fats and sodium. In case this is not feasible immediately, then the FOPL should at least boldly state that ‘the product is unsuitable for children under 10 years’ or ‘this food labeling is not applicable for children under 10 years’.
Stating that caffeine is found in significant amounts in several products favoured by children like energy drinks and chocolates but there is currently no legal requirement to declare caffeine content, IAP and NCDPA said that FOPL should provide information regarding caffeine content of the product.
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