Want to know what you’re eating? It’s all in the label

Reading food labels can tell you at least 13 things about a food product. 

On World Food Safety Day, officials stress importance of package information

Reading food labels could tell you at least 13 things about a food product. Most importantly, food labels give information on when the product was manufactured, its ingredients and best before date to ensure its safety.

As the city celebrated the first World Food Safety Day on Friday, food safety officials and consumer activists raised the need for consumers to read food labels and ensure that the food is safe, at an event organised for students by the Food Safety Department, Government of Tamil Nadu and Consumers Association of India (CAI), Chennai.

A. Ramakrishnan, designated officer, Tamil Nadu Food Safety Department, Chennai, said as a consumer, one should read the food label that would provide 13 points about the product, including ingredients list, nutritional value, preservatives/flavour agents, manufacturer address, net weight, batch number, date of packing or manufacturing, best before date, how to use and FSSAI license number.

Safe to eat?

Nirmala Desikan, chairman of CAI, Chennai, said the five pillars of food safety were maintaining personal hygiene, maintaining cleanliness of kitchen and its surrounding, checking for adulteration and spoilage and reading food labels.

She added that according to WHO, every year, one in 10 persons fell ill by eating contaminated food, and such food was the cause for more than 200 diseases.

G. Santhanarajan, director, CAI, put forth the need to check for logos on food labels.

Among others, K. Vanaja, Additional Commissioner and Director, Tamil Madu Food Safety Department, was present.