The national food safety regulator, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has proposed some important regulations that aim to reinforce the existing food safety apparatus. In the context of a fast changing consumption pattern, the proposed additions have been hailed as appropriate measures in the right direction.

A slew of measures have been given place in the new Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations  draft which will replace the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011. And if the new measures are brought into effect, it will be obligatory on part of the makers of  packaged foods to display red colour coding on the front of packets of products that have high levels of fat, sugar or salt content. The intention is sound keeping in mind the growing phobia of obesity and will no doubt enable consumers to know more about the composition of food products, so that they can make informed choices. The new regulations prescribe labelling of food allergen to reduce risk of exposure for individuals with food allergies. The other key features are logo of veg, non-veg food, nutritional information in the form of barcode and a host of others. But among all these, the one which must be welcomed by all is the bid to make expiry dates more conspicuous, a long term demand of the Indian consumer. It cannot be denied that a myriad of packaged food products now sold in the country have their manufacturing and best-before dates at different places making it rather difficult for prospective consumer to ascertain this vital information before purchasing. The new proposal seeks to eliminate this ‘consumer unfriendly’ practice by giving way to new labelling and display guidelines that will require the dates of manufacture and of expiry to appear next to each other for a single glance effect.

Most public health experts agree that unsafe food is a threat to human health with children and economically deprived being most vulnerable and in India with a large population of children and poor, burden of food borne illnesses is already high and on the rise. It is thus no wonder that there is a growing urge for choosing the best healthy diet and food labelling has a great part to play here since it serves as a primary link of communication between manufacturer and consumer covering a wide set of information such as safety, nutritive values etc.

Although the new regulations will be open for suggestions for one month, keeping in mind the rising cases of adulteration, it will be beneficial for the entire consumer class of the country if most of the suggestions are made effective. It is perhaps then we can step into an age of informed consumerism.