Walk through the aisles of any supermarket today and you will notice that the language on food packages is changing. Amidst a sea of products that were once marketed primarily for taste and convenience, labels are now increasingly highlighting health-related attributes: natural, clean, high protein, no added sugar, low fat, organic, fortified and gut-friendly. This phenomenon reflects an industry responding to a consumer who is asking more questions than ever before about what goes into their food.
What Happened
On one hand, food companies are competing to position themselves as healthier than ever. On the other, influencers and headlines often paint processed foods as the villains responsible for every lifestyle disease. India’s food landscape is undoubtedly changing. Rising incomes, urban lifestyles, greater health awareness, and increasing rates of obesity and diabetes have prompted consumers to ask important questions about what goes into their food. Regulators too, are paying closer attention to product claims, ingredient transparency and food labelling. India is entering an important phase in its nutrition journey. Better food labelling, stronger scientific standards, responsible innovation and greater consumer awareness can together improve public health. But regulations alone cannot replace nutritional literacy. (Dr. Manjari Chandra is a nutritionist and clinical dietitian associated with Max Hospital in Delhi and Gurugram. [email protected])
As consumers therefore, we are caught between two extremes. Because informed consumers make better choices, this is a welcome shift.
