Food companies, activists lock horns over junk food in schools

Differences have been cropping up even as Food Safety & Standards Authority of India attempts to put in place final guidelines to determine what counts as healthy food in educational institutes

The country's top packaged food & beverage companies and food safety activists are at loggerheads over what constitutes junk food in schools. The difference in opinion between the two has cropped up even as the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) attempts to put in place a final set of  guidelines to determine what counts as healthy food in educational institutions.

These companies such as Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Nestle, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and Dabur, who are part of the  All India Food Processors' Association (AIFPA), an apex body of packaged food players in the country, argue that there is nothing called junk food that exists anywhere in the world. "You either have something that is of low nutritional value or high nutritional value. There has to be a scientific basis to what constitutes junk food," M A Tejani, president, AIFPA says. 

The AIFPA alongwith the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) is part of the 14-member expert committee that will give its recommendations to FSSAI before the latter formulates the final set of guidelines by December. Both AIFPA and NRAI, however, boycotted the expert committee meeting held today in New Delhi. 

Activists such as the Centre for Science & Environment (CSE) say that the argument by the AIFPA is a frivolous one intended to skirt the core issue of having  guidelines or benchmarks pertaining to healthy food to children. "There are number of countries around the world that prescribe guidelines pertaining to the wholesomeness and nutrition of food to children. There is certainly a need for a proper set of guidelines as well as a national policy pertaining to food targeted at children here," says Sunita Narain, director, CSE, who is also on the expert committee that will make recommendations to FSSAI. 

CSE says that the move by the food safety regulator to have a defined set of guidelines is important since there are no  adequate food safety and labelling standards in India. The draft guidelines, which were prescribed last month by FSSAI, categorise food items commonly sold and consumed in schools under segments such as junk food, street food, nutritional food and unhealthy food. The move, according to those in the know, is intended at helping children inculcate good eating habits.  

Last year, after a two-month study, CSE had said fast food and snacks such as PepsiCo’s Lays and Haldiram’s Aloo Bhujiya contained dangerous levels of trans-fat and salt. Bejon Misra, a consumer policy expert, who is also the founder of Consumer Online Foundation, says that food companies should indicate the proportion of salt, sugar and fat going into food items. "More often than not this is unclear on account of poor labelling standards that prevail here," he says.
Executives at Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, however, say they are already part of an eight-member club of companies in India that has pledged to promote healthy dietary habits among children. The group, formed three years ago, also includes HUL, Nestle, Kellogg’s, General Mills, Mars and Cadbury. These firms have decided not to advertise to children below 12 years and desist from commercial communication of their food & beverage products in primary schools, except for products that fulfill specific nutrition criteria or those requested by or agreed to by school administrators.