Industry
In a pickle: Why it’s time for Fssai to wake up and crack the whip
Summary
- A Swiss watchdog recently reported that Nestle adds excess sugar in infant products. Spice mixes sold by MDH and Everest were red flagged by regulators abroad. The companies denied any wrongdoing but the reports do raise questions on the role Fssai, India’s food regulator, plays.
New Delhi: If you are reading this piece with a cup of tea or coffee, here is a number that can score over caffeine—in its potency to wake you up. In the three years leading up to March 2023, Indian authorities tested 4.3 lakh food samples. Turns out, one in four did not conform to domestic food safety laws. Of these, one in every six were either ‘unsafe’ or ‘substandard.’ The rest did not conform to labelling laws—which means food makers were misleading consumers by putting incorrect information on the label.
The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, defines unsafe food as those ‘whose nature, substance or quality is so affected as to render it injurious to health.’ The federal regulator, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (Fssai), and state food safety agencies, whose job is to ensure ‘safe and wholesome food for consumption’, for 1.4 billion Indians, initiated civil and criminal proceedings on most errant businesses. They achieved an impressive conviction rate in over 60% cases.
But what they did not do is to alert the consumer. Citizens were left out in the cold and not informed which manufacturers or brands were selling substandard, unsafe, and mis-labelled food items. There was no way for consumers to stay away from food items ‘injurious to health.’
Fssai’s 2021-22 annual report has no mention of any product recall, or cancellation of food licenses— an established global practice to safeguard consumers. In India, a snack brand selling a product unfit for consumption could get away by paying a penalty, without any hit to its reputation.
The data on sample testing by food safety agencies was provided by Fssai following queries sent by Mint. The agency did not respond to Mint’s query on if any products were recalled or if licenses were cancelled in the past five years, for not complying with food laws. It also did not disclose any names of errant food makers.
Back in 2015, Fssai had asked Nestle to recall its popular instant noodles Maggi for containing excessive lead and monosodium glutamate (a flavour enhancer), which seems to be the only known case of product recall. Nestle India filed a legal petition with the Bombay High Court, seeking a judicial review of the recall order. The court overturned the government’s ban on Maggi citing that move was “arbitrary" and said that Nestlé India can bring the product back to the market following fresh tests. Subsequent test results showed that Maggi was safe for consumption. In October 2015, four months after the recall order, Nestle announced plans to resume the sale of Maggi.
A senior official from Fssai who did not want to be named said testing has increased over the years. But why is the agency not alerting consumers about manufacturers selling ‘unsafe’ food? “You mean name-and-shame them? That is a good suggestion," the official said, as an afterthought.
Fssai has come under fire recently for being lax on more than one count. Last month, a global report by a Swiss watchdog reported that Nestle, a multinational brand, adds excess sugar in infant milk and cereal products sold in low- and middle-income countries, including India, but not in rich nations. Spice mixes sold by MDH and Everest, both household names in India, were red flagged and recalled by regulators in Hong Kong and Singapore for containing ethylene oxide, a cancer-causing chemical used as a fumigant.
MDH said in a statement on 27 April that claims of presence of ethylene oxide in its products are “untrue and lack any substantiating evidence". In its defence, Nestle said it follows the same standards in India as it does globally. It claimed to have reduced ‘added sugar’ by up to 30% in cereal products (like Cerelac) meant for infants and young children. While Fssai guidelines allow 13.6 gm of sugar per 100 gm of feed, on average, Cerelac contains 7.1 gm of added sugar, Nestle said during a media roundtable at the company’s headquarters in Gurugram on 29 April.
Added sugar, however, does not add to the nutritive value of manufactured food. The updated Dietary Guidelines for Indians (DGIs), released by the National Institute of Nutrition earlier this month, advised parents to avoid packaged food with ‘added sugar,’ even for children older than six months.
Fire fighting
A report by the European Food Safety Authority, released on 23 April, stated that turmeric, chilli, peppercorn, and dried beans from India were found to contain ethylene oxide. Cumin seed and rice samples exceeded the limit for pesticide residues.
The European Union has a web-based rapid alert system for ‘Food and Feed’ to warn consumers and policymakers in real time. The portal shows multiple instances of Indian products which were found to be non-compliant in recent months, from carom seeds to table grapes.
To be fair, not all of it is Fssai’s responsibility. Food exports come under the purview of multiple agencies—the Export Inspection Council, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, and Spices Board of India, all under the commerce ministry. But that does not absolve Fssai, an independent statutory agency under the health ministry, entirely: Why do consumers in India have to rely on foreign agencies to know which food items are unsafe?
“Rejections are common in international trade. Singapore need not have gone to the media about it. India has also rejected many imported items in the past but we did not make that information public for the sake of bilateral relations," said the senior Fssai official quoted earlier.
The officer admitted that adulteration is rampant in India. “In spices like turmeric and chilli, edible oils and paneer (cottage cheese)…broom sticks are cut into pieces and added to cumin. We have increased surveillance to check these malpractices," he said.
‘Processed food and beverages’ (excluding minimally processed cereals, pulses, edible oils and dairy products) was the single largest component in the monthly per capita spending of families, showed a recent government survey. About 10.6% of household budgets in urban and 9.6% in rural areas was spent on this category in 2022-23 (up from 6.4% and 4.2%, respectively, at the turn of the century). As per a 2023 report by the World Health Organization, the retail value of ultra-processed food and beverages sold in India grew exponentially, from $0.9 billion in 2006 to over $37.9 billion in 2019.
The market is growing but consumers are unsure if the food they are eating is safe, let alone nutritious.
Instead of being proactive, the regulatory approach is reactive, said Ashim Sanyal, chief executive officer (CEO) of Consumer Voice, a rights advocacy body. “Because masalas are in the dock, Fssai is collecting samples from all over India. What stopped it from doing so earlier?"
Sanyal added that enforcement of food safety rules is poor due to limited resources (shortage of food safety officers and labs for testing) at the state level. “The food regulator is sitting in a palace, out of touch with the ground reality… packaged food is considered to be safe but today most households are not sure about the ingredients in their kitchen," Sanyal added.
There are 207 Fssai accredited labs for food testing but many smaller states and union territories do not have a single facility, said Rishi Aggarwal, cofounder and CEO of Teamlease Regtech, which helps businesses on regulatory compliance. “How will food businesses comply if there are very few or no labs in states they operate? There is enough expertise in the private sector to ensure compliance. The problem is there is so much inspector raj in our system, the moment you bring some of these compliances into the private sector (via third party certification), you lose the right to demand a convenience fee (bribe)," he said.
Fssai did not respond to Mint’s queries on inadequate infrastructure and manpower required for testing. On the recall of spice mixes by other countries, it said products meant for global markets do not fall under its purview. It added that the agency, following media reports, has traced back exported spices to manufacturing facilities and it is inspecting, sampling, and testing all types of spices.
On infant products, Fssai said that Indian laws allow for adding sugar (sucrose and fructose) as source of carbohydrate, by up to 20% of the total carbohydrate in the food item. It is currently testing samples to check for any violation of this rule. On safety aspects, the regulatory body said that food business operators, or, FBOs are required to provide test reports on chemical and microbiological contamination every six months.
A messy stack
The recent series of events are only but the tip of the iceberg. Food —be it fresh vegetables, minimally processed grains and pulses, or ultra-processed items like biscuits and beverages—ultimately comes from the farm. And farmers depend on input dealers’ advice while using chemicals and pesticides. Unscientific overuse leaves behind residues above permissible limits in harvested crops.
When these are processed, more chemical additives are used to prevent bacterial contamination (like ethylene oxide in spice mixes) and to prolong shelf life. Aggressive marketing of ultra processed food—high in fat, sugar, and salt (also known as HFSS foods)— adds to this mess.
Because a packet of wafers or juice is inexpensive (and tastier) compared to a bowl of fresh fruit or salad, consumers readily adopt HFSS items. Junk food is more affordable because their primary ingredients, salt, sugar, and palm oil, are among the cheapest farm commodities.
According to the dietary guidelines report, about 56% of India’s total disease burden is due to unhealthy diets which is fuelling an epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCD) like diabetes and hypertension. Every tenth child is pre-diabetic while one in four is anaemic. While a fifth of adult women are undernourished, a quarter are obese.
The way to effectively counter the NCD epidemic fuelled by the surge in consumption of unhealthy food, experts concur, is by upgrading existing regulation, by mandating front-of-the-pack labels (FoPL) and restricting aggressive marketing.
For over a decade, India has been discussing FoPL on packaged food to inform consumers about high levels of salt, sugar, and fat. In 2022, Fssai released a draft regulation seeking public comments. Ignoring the suggestion of health experts and consumer groups to mandate warning labels on packaged food (which are easy to interpret), the draft proposed health star ratings (HSR) on packaged food. It remains unclear if FSSAI will go ahead with HSR ratings as it is still reviewing comments, a good 18 months after the draft was released (in November 2022).
“Fssai should show some urgency by setting a definition of ultra-processed and HFSS foods. It can add such food products to its existing definition of ‘unsafe’ food, in line with the latest dietary guidelines," suggests Arun Gupta, fellow of Indian Academy of Pediatrics, and convenor of Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest, a national think tank on nutrition. “If the health ministry is serious about preventing the epidemic of non-communicable diseases, it should prohibit advertisement of HFSS food and treat them at par with addictive substances like cigarettes and alcohol," Gupta said.
Is it odd to equate a bowl of chips to a shot of nicotine? One hallmark of addiction is the speed with which substances hit the brain, and this puts the term fast food in a new light, wrote Michael Moss, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the book, Hooked: How Processed Food Became Addictive. “Measured in milliseconds, and the power to addict, nothing is faster than processed food in rousing the brain."
Silence of the brands
Celebrity endorsement increases the appeal of junk. Some popular processed products, for instance, are advertised by popular actors. A 200 ml serving of a mango drink can contain 31.2 gm of sugar (roughly seven teaspoons—try gulping that much sugar in a go!).
The latest dietary guidelines advise adults to limit consumption of sugar to 25 gm in a day. Drinking 200 ml of this drink, or any other sweetened or carbonated beverage, exceeds an adult’s daily quota of sugar. For a child, its worse. As per the guidelines, a diet with no added sugar is perfectly healthy.
Mint reached out to Britannia Industries, which sells biscuits and cakes, to understand its position on front-of-the-pack-labels and what steps it is taking to improve the nutritional quality of its products. It declined a response. Mondelez India, makers of Bournvita, and Dabur, which sells juices and milk shakes, did not respond to queries either.
India’s regulatory environment around food safety and nutrition has its fair share of defenders. According to K.S. Narayanan, food and beverage expert and former managing director of McCain Foods, most food items manufactured in India are aligned with international standards. But at times, the price consumers are willing to pay determines what goes into products.
Is the regulator industry friendly? “I do not know if they are friendly or not. Maybe they lack capability and resources in terms of people, training, and equipment," Narayanan said.
Saugata Gupta, CEO of Marico India, which sells food products under the Saffola brand, thinks the regulator has been progressive and proactive. “We have to ensure a fine balance…obviously, protecting health is the most important thing," he said.
A consumer can easily get lost in the maze of what is safe and what is not. But one can borrow a bite or two from Sangeetha Deiveegarajan, a Chennai-based financial services professional, who prefers to call herself a safe-food enthusiast. Her obsession with nutrition started 15 years back, following the demise of a close family member due to cancer.
“I am big into reading labels on packaged food. It took me some time and effort to figure out who grows my food, who is processing it and what goes inside the packet," she said, referring to her regular interactions with farmers and micro-processors connected to a local organic food network.
“I am conscious of my privilege, so I try not to judge those who cannot afford or may not have the time to figure out the food on their plate. But do I have a choice? Because the regulator is not doing its job, I had step up for the sake of my child and family."
sayantan.bera@livemint.com
