Jul 25, 2019
Consumer demand helps low sugar goods take off
Claims like ‘low sugar’,‘organic’ have become key influencers at the point of purchase
Low Sugar Foods: Sugar is the new tobacco, as they say. However, it is now that the companies are seriously waking up to the challenges of a more educated consumer who is looking for low-calorie products in view of the rising incidence of obesity and diabetes. Recently, Cavin’s, the dairy arm of FMCG firm CavinKare, announced the launch of Cavin’s Milkshake Lite, which has no added sugar. While Cavin’s milkshake is said to have 23% less sugar, last month chocolate maker Mondelez launched a new variant of its popular Dairy Milk chocolate with 30% less sugar for the health-seekers. This is the company’s first such effort to reduce sugar content in its products in India. Mondelez’s director-marketing (chocolates), Anil Viswanathan, said they tried it with their biggest brand in India, which commands 40% share of the category. “Rather than trying it with a smaller niche brand, we thought we need to drive this conversation with the biggest brand."
The chocolate took two years to develop and comes at a premium, as the research and development to keep its taste intact despite low sugar, involved costs. There are other recent examples, too. A Bloomberg report said that Nestle has invented a new way to make chocolate with no added sugar, relying on leftover material from cocoa plants for sweetening. This will have 40% less sugar than most equivalent bars with added sugar.
It’s not difficult to see why the food and beverage industry is under pressure from the regulator and the consumer to offer healthier products. A Reuters report, a few days ago, quoted a study that said sugary drinks may be linked to cancer. People who have a lot of sugary drinks have a higher risk of developing cancer, though the evidence cannot establish a direct causal link, the report said. The study conducted in France suggested that limiting the intake of sugar-sweetened drinks may help cut the number of cancer cases in a population.
Explaining why Cavin launched a low-sugar variant, B.P. Ravindran, business head, dairy and beverages, CavinKare, said that the company’s milkshakes are its headline product liked for their thickness and taste. However, the company spotted an opportunity during a consumer studies group where people above 25 years said they wanted the same taste, but with lower calories and sugar. “Globally, consumer awareness for low-sugar product offering is increasing," Ravindran added.
To be sure, a Reuters report on Tuesday said that The Coca-Cola Co. had beat second quarter earnings expectations and raised its revenue for the full year as a result of higher sales of its zero-sugar sodas.
“Our performance was largely driven by consumer demand for no sugar versions of some of our best-known sparkling soft drinks brands, as well as for smaller packages for less sugar," said Coca-Cola chief executive officer James Quincey,
“Both Coke and Pepsi have announced their commitment to reduce sugar in their products further. The latest set of FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) regulation also wants products with high sugar to be marked red. So, low-sugar and diet variants are definitely the right direction to go," Ravindran said. Claims like “low-sugar" and “organic" have become important influencers at the point of purchase. “There is also a gradual shift in terms of willingness to pay a premium for healthier alternatives," he added.
Consequently, even a startup brand like Epigamia, which is into yoghurt, has launched a no-sugar Greek yoghurt and plans to launch smoothies in the category. However, its co-founder Rohan Mirchandani is quick to add that though sugar seems to be the new enemy, “we don’t have a stand on it as we are not scientists. But yes, we listen to the consumer and our decision to launch no-sugar variants is consumer-led".
V.S. Kannan Sitaram, venture partner, Fireside Ventures, which has invested in several brick-and-mortar food startups, believes that consumers are actively managing their sugar consumption. Many still want sweet tasting food and drinks so the focus is also to replace them with healthier alternatives like jaggery, palm sugar, coconut sugar, and natural ones such as stevia, besides substitutes such as sucralose. “This is an embedded trend and the big companies have been long working on the response to this. It is difficult as their brands have large consumer franchises and they need to be sure that they can carry the entire consumer franchise with them when they change their product. They have also been changing their portfolios with a bias for “better-for-you" products," Sitaram added.
Shuchi Bansal is Mint’s media, marketing and advertising editor. Ordinary Post will look at pressing issues related to all three. Or just fun stuff.
This man was 'planting' lizards in railway food to get compensation
01/6A passenger arrested in Telangana for false claim of lizard-in-food!
On one hand, Indian Railways is leaving no stone unturned in improving the food quality, on the other hand, there are people who are following ill practices to defame the system and also extract money. A recent act of cheating in Telangana reflects the same, where a man tried to make money by making false accusations of adulterated food being served in railway stations. The accused was later arrested by Railway Protection Force (RPF) of Guntakal division.
02/6Lizard-in-food act
Recently, the accused, Sunder Pal, tried to extract money by saying that he found a lizard in the vegetable biryani served at a food stall of the railway station. He also claimed to have fallen sick because of the adulterated food and was admitted in the hospital. According to the railway officials, something was suspicious in his statement, which made them track similar food complaints and they got the clue.
03/6How did they track him?
While investigation was on, the officers found a similarity in the complaint and realised that a similar incident was reported from Jabalpur railway station, where a man complained about lizard found in a plate of samosa. Later, they realised that it was the same person. Not only this, earlier the same person complained about a blade in a plate of idly served at Miraj railway station of Pune.
04/6Railway officials trap
According to media reports, the railway officials laid a trap with the help of food stall owner and the accused was offered a bribe. Once he accepted the money to withdraw the complaint, he was immediately arrested.
05/6Government’s effort
To keep a close check on food quality, Indian Railways recently introduced the concept of printing barcodes on the food packets and providing other details like the name of the kitchen and date of packaging. Also, branded food providers have been roped in to provide e-catering services, deploying food safety supervisors in kitchen, units to monitor food safety and hygiene practices, and surprise inspections by railway officials, including food safety officers, have been regularised pan India.
06/6Verdict
This incident reflects the negativity such anti-social elements try to inject in the society, without realising that they are also part of the system, they are trying to blame.
FSSAI Introduces +F Logo for Rice, Wheat, Milk & Oil: Here’s What It Means
Is your food fortified or not? And why does it matter? Here’s all you should know before hitting the grocery store! #FSSAI #EatSafe #ConsumerAwareness
More than a quarter of the world’s preschool children deficient in Vitamin A reside in India.
In addition to this, in our country, 55 per cent of the women between the ages of 15 and 49; 69 per cent of children between ages 6 to 59 months; and 24 per cent of men are anaemic.
While consuming nutritious food is a must for good health, what makes it better is if it is organic. Shop for organic staples here.
These are not mere statistics but a cumulative outcome of years of malnutrition and deficiencies that have multiplied to alarming numbers. And to tackle this, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) mandated food fortification, identified by the recently introduced blue sign +F on packets of food staples like milk, rice, oil etc. will help people identify which products are nutritious.
A report by the FSSAI which quotes the World Bank, states that no other technology available today can offer such an opportunity to improve lives and accelerate development at such a low cost and in such a short time. According to the FSSAI officials, manufacturers are mandated to print the logo on staple food products to ensure that all sections of the society, including the most vulnerable, receive timely and appropriate nutrition.
“If the instruction is not followed then it will be termed under the misbranded category and they would have to face legal action,” said a senior officer from FSSAI, Maharashtra to the Free Press Journal.
But what exactly is food fortification and how is it beneficial?
Here’s all you need to know about the recent mandate:
What is it?
Food fortification, although a lesser known concept, is definitely not a new one for India.
It dates back to the 1950s when fortification of vanaspati with vitamin A was mandated. Even iodisation of salt for human consumption was a landmark step towards food fortification in 2005.
Since then, apart from salt, widely consumed food staples like wheat, oil, milk and rice have been driving the fortification movement in India.
Essentially, the simple practice of food fortification involves effectively intervening the food supply to deliver vitamin and mineral rich foods to large populations. Through this process, minute quantities of missing nutrients in the daily diet such as vitamin A, iron and iodine are added to commonly consumed food to enhance the nutrient quality thereby contributing to improve the health of a large population in a short span of time.
This involves adding of a vitamin and mineral mixture called the premix to the widely-consumed food.
Benefits
Used for its mass impact at low-cost, fortification of food is known to have helped eliminate vitamin and mineral malnutrition in industrialised nations and many developing countries.
Almost 13.2 percent of neural tube defects were prevented in 2015 in 58 countries that practiced mandatory fortification of flour and folic acid (contained in foods like rice, cereals, bread etc).
In the long run, it also helps raise vitamin and mineral levels by moving the population toward consuming recommended dietary allowances for most micro-nutrients, thus making it a long term and sustainable strategy.
A cost effective intervention that does not require any change in the eating patterns of food habits of people, fortification also ensures a minimal or zero alteration in food characteristics like taste and cooking properties.
Guidelines
On 2 August, 2018, FSSAI introduced the Food Safety and Standards (Fortification of Foods) Regulations, 2018, to regulate the provisions regarding fortified food. Some of the important features of the regulations are as follows:
It prescribes the standards of addition of micro-nutrients for the purpose of food fortification. The manufacturers of the fortified food have to provide a quality assurance undertaking.
Packaging and labelling has to state the food fortificant added, +F logo and the tagline “Sampoorna Poshan Swasth Jeevan”.
Also, it should be in compliance to the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labeling) Regulations, 2011
Impact
1. Fortified salt: In 1950, Indians were among the first countries in Asia to implement mandatory salt iodisation, which eventually led to the huge success in public health under the intellectual or developmental disability (IDD) control programme.
A new breakthrough of double fortified salt, whereby it will tackle both iron and iodine, is also underway.
2. Fortified wheat: The second most consumed staple in India, fortification of wheat flour demonstrated great results, especially in Darjeeling, where, in the year 2000, a significant reduction in anaemia and vitamin A deficiency in just 2 years was recorded. The flour was fortified with iron, vitamin A and folic acid.
3. Fortified rice: A pilot project was undertaken in the central kitchen in Vizag where 61,000 children were fed with fortified rice, for a year (2010-11). Not only was the rice well-accepted by the children and benefited their health, but also proved to be strong enough to withstand Indian conditions of transport, cooking and usage with zero change in colour, flavour or nutrient composition.
4. Fortified milk: Studies suggest the intake of fortified milk by children not only increased mean serum vitamin D levels but also decreased morbidity rates, causing 18 per cent lower incidence of diarrhoea, 26 per cent lower incidence of pneumonia, 7 per cent fewer days with high fever and 15 per cent fewer days sick with severe illness.
5. Fortified oil: With 99 per cent of penetration in Indian households, edible oil fortified with vitamin A and D proved to be a success. It was found that around 93 per cent of vitamin A was retained even after 15 minutes of cooking, when the oil was added to the mixture of rice, beans or pulses.
Even after 30 minutes of cooking, the nutrient retention had only decreased by 3 per cent.
Similar to the past triumphs, we hope that the recent development will further help these foods reach a larger population and push for a healthier nation!
Slaughtering of animals cannot take place at any crossroad: Delhi HC
During the hearing, senior advocate Raj Panjwani, representing Maulekhi, told the court that the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, Environment Protection Act and even the Food Safety Act had provisions to regulate the activity of slaughtering.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) by animal rights activist Gauri Maulekhi alleging that poultry birds are being traded and slaughtered illegally at the Ghazipur mandi in east Delhi.
Slaughtering of animals “cannot be allowed at any crossroad”, the Delhi High Court said Wednesday and sought to know from the municipal corporation of East Delhi as to under what law or rules such activity was allowed and where. “It (slaughtering) cannot be allowed on any crossroad. Which law provides where it should be done,” a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar asked the corporation.
When the corporation’s lawyer said there was a policy in place for regulating such activity, the bench said: “It was not a question of policy. You have to tell us under which law and rules, it is permitted and where. Otherwise close down the shops.” It directed the corporation to inform the court on the next date, August 8, what was the law, rule and policy which regulated slaughtering of animals, including poultry birds.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) by animal rights activist Gauri Maulekhi alleging that poultry birds are being traded and slaughtered illegally at the Ghazipur mandi in east Delhi. During the hearing, senior advocate Raj Panjwani, representing Maulekhi, told the court that the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, Environment Protection Act and even the Food Safety Act had provisions to regulate the activity of slaughtering.
The court had on August 31 last year directed the Delhi Agriculture Marketing Board (DAMB) to shut down all the poultry slaughter houses running from its premises at Ghazipur without the approval of the pollution controlling body DPCC. It had also directed the DAMB to remove from the site the slaughterhouses which were operating illegally. Maulekhi, in her plea, has contended that there was “blatant violation” of mandatory health checks and veterinary screening of the birds which leads to spreading of infectious diseases such as avian flu.
The petition also draws attention to the conditions the birds are being kept in, saying they are “tied up and hung upside down, de-feathered, stuffed in wire cages without sufficient food or water and slaughtered while alive”. It has further claimed that waste generated as a result of the slaughter of the birds was not properly disposed of and was either flushed down the drain ending up in the rivers or dumped in open grounds. It has sought directions to the authorities to “forthwith stop the illegal slaughter of poultry birds at the Ghazipur Mandi” as well as form a committee for carrying out weekly inspections of the area.
The plea has also sought that the birds be examined by the authorities and veterinarians after they are transported to the mandi to ensure none of them are infected with any disease.
Food safety important for street food vendors - workshop at PGIMER tomorrow
Chandigarh,24.07.19-Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health, PGIMER, Chandigarh in collaboration with Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh, NINE (PGIMER, Chandigarh) and Mehr Chand Mahajan DAV College for women (Chandigarh) is organizing a workshop entitled “Capacity building of stakeholders like medical officer, medical students, paramedical staff and others on food safety to enriched health related microenvironment of street food vendors” on 25th July 2019 (Thursday) at 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at NINE, auditorium, PGIMER Chandigarh. The workshop is funded by the Medical Council of India (MCI).
The aim of the workshop is to sensitize all key stakeholders regarding role of National Urban Livelihoods Mission (GOI initiative) in improving social status of street food vendors. It also aims to assess the current food safety scenario in Chandigarh and to formulate policies related to food safety to make it a safe food town.
The workshop will be attended by more than 100 participants. These will include medical officers, doctors, town vending committee members, medical/ nursing/ food technology students, paramedical staff and street food vendors.
A ‘smart food cart’ has also been designed as a part of a related project keeping in view the FSSAI guidelines. Chief Guest Sh. K. K. Yadav, IAS, Commissioner, MC Chandigarh along with Dr. Amarjeet Singh (Professor, Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health, PGIMER, Chandigarh) will showcase the cart during the event. The cart will be pilot tested in Chandigarh and after taking the feedback of the street food vendors it will be remodeled (if required) and launched in the tri-city.
The technical sessions will be taken by the experts from various fields.
Dr. Debdulal Saha, Assistant Professor, TISS, Guwahati Campus will give his expert views over the “Current scenario of Street Food Vendors in India”.
Ms. Sakshi, FSSAI, New Delhi will emphasize on the Role of FSSAI in improving status of street food hygiene at national level.
Dr. Puja Dudeja, Professor, AFMC, Pune share the highlights of her PhD work on food handlers training on food safety at PGIMER, Chandigarh.
Arun Kumar Singh, TL, Egis, Smart City Ltd. will share his views regarding “Potential of Developing Vending Zones in context of SMART CITY Mission”.
Mr. Vivek Trivedi, Social Development Officer, Municipal Corporation Chandigarh –cum- Research Fellow, CSW, PU Chandigarh will explain the Bye Laws-The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending)-The Chandigarh experience & initiative of MCC.
Mrs. Sunita Malhotra, Chief Dietitian, PGIMER, Chandigarh will highlight the Dietician’s Role in managing the Nutrition issues concerning street food.
Dr. Geeta Mehra, Assistant Professor, Food Science, MCM-DAV will talk on the main findings of her Deptt of Biotechnology project, i.e., “Demonstration using Foldscope: A frugal scientific tool for training Street Food Vendors”
Mr Vivek, a FOSTAC trainer hired by the Hindustan Lever Pvt Ltd will impart Food safety training to the street vendors.
Mr. Ravinder and his team from Rudra Theatre Company will present a nukkad naatak on the issue.
Dr Amarjeet Singh, Dr Sonu Goel, Dr. Pushkar , Dr Ishwarpreet from Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health are coordinating the workshop.
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