Nutrition rating stars set to appear soon on food pack labels

Source: The post is based on the article “Nutrition rating stars set to appear soon on food pack labels” published in Indian Express on 26th September 2022

What is the News?

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India(FSSAI) has issued a draft notification on front-of-package labelling which proposes “Indian Nutrition Rating”(INR) on food packets.

This move is aimed at letting consumers know the items with high salt, fat and sugar and to allow them to make informed choices while purchasing them.

What is Indian Nutrition Rating(INR)?

The INR system rates the overall nutritional profile for packaged food by assigning it a rating from ½ % star (least healthy) to 5 stars (healthiest). 

More stars indicate the food product is better positioned to provide for the daily human need of nutrients. 

The rating shall be displayed close in proximity to the name or brand name of the product on front of pack.

To generate the star-rating logo for the product, food businesses have to submit nutritional profiles of the products concerned on FSSAI’s FoSCoS (Food Safety Compliance System) portal.

What are the criteria for food Rating?

Contribution of energy 

Content of saturated fat, sugar, sodium, fruit and vegetables (FV), nuts, legumes, and millets (NLM), dietary fiber, and protein per 100 gm of solid or 100 ml of liquid foods. 

Solid food with a score of more than 25 will be given 0.5 stars and those with a score less than minus 11 (-11) will get 5 stars.

Exempted Products from the star rating

Food such as milk and milk products, whey, butter oil, ghee, vegetable oil and fat, fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables, fresh and frozen meat, egg, fish, flour and sweeteners will not have to display the star rating. 

Carbonated beverages without any energy or sugar will also not be eligible for declaring the rating.

What is the criticism against this rating system of foods?

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