The FSSAI has issued draft regulations for “Front of Pack Nutrition Labeling (FOPNL)” in relation to nutritional information and invited stakeholders to comment on them.
As previously reported, the FSSAI has decided to rate foods with health stars based on their nutritional values and will now be called the Indian Nutrition Rating (INR). Its logo will match the BEE Star Ratings logo.
The INR system assesses the overall nutritional profile for packaged food, assigning it a rating from ½ star (least healthy) to 5 stars (healthiest). More stars indicate that the food product is more suitable to meet daily human nutritional needs.
The draft calls for the declaration of the percentage of fruit, vegetables, nuts, legumes and sorghum when present in the food product and the addition of fiber as a nutrient in the nutrition label list, with all processed and packaged food products falling under existing FSS regulations divided into three categories, namely Category-I (solid foods), Category-II (liquid foods) and Category-III (excluded from FOPNL).
The so-called Food Safety and Standards (Labelling & Display) Amendment Regulations, 2022 come into force on the day of their final publication in the Official Gazette. However, compliance is voluntary for a period of 48 months from the date of final notification of these regulations and mandatory thereafter.
According to the draft, FOPNL is a form of supplemental nutritional information that provides simplified nutritional information on the front of pack of prepackaged foods. It may contain symbols/graphics, text or combinations thereof that provide information about the overall nutritional value of the food and/or about the nutrients contained in the FOPNL.
The draft also defines foods high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) as a processed food product that is high in saturated fat or total sugars or sodium. The declared values of these ingredients are such that the product does not meet the energy value (kcal) from total sugars less than 10 percent of total energy or from saturated fatty acids less than 10 percent of total energy and sodium less than 1 mg/1 kcal.
An entire Chapter 6 is added to the Marking and Display Regulations that define the INR. This chapter provides the formula for calculating the INR based on reference values of four risk-increasing factors, ie energy, total sugars, saturated fat and sodium per 100 g or 100 ml of product and the minimum percentage of beneficial nutrients, ie fruits and vegetables (FV); nuts, legumes and millet (NLM); Dietary fiber and protein to consider in the calculation to evaluate specific solid or liquid foods.
logo
The draft stipulates that all packaged foods, with the exception of those exempted from nutritional information under this regulation, must show the prescribed format (INR) on the front of the package, calculated on the basis of the energy contribution (in kilocalories; kcal), saturated fat (g), total sugars (g) and sodium (mg) and the beneficial nutrients per 100g of solid food or 100ml of liquid food on an “as sold” basis, using the formula given in the Regulation.
The format of the logo for INR is as given below:
FNB News – FSSAI issues draft norms for Indian Nutrition Rating with logo
As previously reported, the FSSAI has decided to rate foods with health stars based on their nutritional values and will now be called the Indian Nutrition Rating (INR). Its logo will match the BEE Star Ratings logo.
The INR system assesses the overall nutritional profile for packaged food, assigning it a rating from ½ star (least healthy) to 5 stars (healthiest). More stars indicate that the food product is more suitable to meet daily human nutritional needs.
The draft calls for the declaration of the percentage of fruit, vegetables, nuts, legumes and sorghum when present in the food product and the addition of fiber as a nutrient in the nutrition label list, with all processed and packaged food products falling under existing FSS regulations divided into three categories, namely Category-I (solid foods), Category-II (liquid foods) and Category-III (excluded from FOPNL).
The so-called Food Safety and Standards (Labelling & Display) Amendment Regulations, 2022 come into force on the day of their final publication in the Official Gazette. However, compliance is voluntary for a period of 48 months from the date of final notification of these regulations and mandatory thereafter.
According to the draft, FOPNL is a form of supplemental nutritional information that provides simplified nutritional information on the front of pack of prepackaged foods. It may contain symbols/graphics, text or combinations thereof that provide information about the overall nutritional value of the food and/or about the nutrients contained in the FOPNL.
The draft also defines foods high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) as a processed food product that is high in saturated fat or total sugars or sodium. The declared values of these ingredients are such that the product does not meet the energy value (kcal) from total sugars less than 10 percent of total energy or from saturated fatty acids less than 10 percent of total energy and sodium less than 1 mg/1 kcal.
An entire Chapter 6 is added to the Marking and Display Regulations that define the INR. This chapter provides the formula for calculating the INR based on reference values of four risk-increasing factors, ie energy, total sugars, saturated fat and sodium per 100 g or 100 ml of product and the minimum percentage of beneficial nutrients, ie fruits and vegetables (FV); nuts, legumes and millet (NLM); Dietary fiber and protein to consider in the calculation to evaluate specific solid or liquid foods.
logo
The draft stipulates that all packaged foods, with the exception of those exempted from nutritional information under this regulation, must show the prescribed format (INR) on the front of the package, calculated on the basis of the energy contribution (in kilocalories; kcal), saturated fat (g), total sugars (g) and sodium (mg) and the beneficial nutrients per 100g of solid food or 100ml of liquid food on an “as sold” basis, using the formula given in the Regulation.
The format of the logo for INR is as given below:
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