Over lunch with colleagues recently, someone passed me a Hershey's SoFit. On the face of it, the soya-almond drink looked as if it would tick all the boxes—protein, vitamins, dietary fibre. a better inspection, though, revealed nearly 20 grams of sugars per serving. This isn't unique nor should it's surprising. And India is finally on the point of do something about it. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) plans to introduce Health Star Ratings (HSR) on the front of packaged foods which will tell you only how healthy a selected snack is. Ratings go from one to 5 stars—the healthier the food, the more stars it gets. On the surface of things, this looks like an honest move. But is it? Health star ratings have proven ineffective, even harmful, in countries like Australia. this is often because manufacturers could still manage good ratings on unhealthy foods just by adding some healthy ingredients. And by not going beyond the star ratings on display, customers also made poorer nutritional choices. in keeping with one expert, 73% of ultra-processed foods in Australia had a rating of two.5 stars or more. FSSAI didn't settle on star ratings out of the blue. It made its decision on the idea of a pan-India survey conducted by Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad. a better have a look at the survey, however, explains why doctors, consumer groups, and even FSSAI's own experts are sceptical and believe that warning labels that clearly state the issues with any given snack would are a stronger option. It's somewhat telling that food and beverage companies, which have fought warning labels in other countries, seem supportive of FSSAI's star ratings system. With FSSAI looking to maneuver quickly after years of logjam, the HSR system may be made into a law within a year. Our newsletter highlights the problems with this decision and explains why star ratings often obscure over they reveal. it is a free article newsletter, do share it widely...
