The waiting room is always full, and the phone does not stop ringing in Pawan Agarwal’s office. On the morning of 8 May, the CEO of the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) published a report on the subject of high fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) on its website. By evening, journalists had filed stories anticipating which recommendations the authority would act upon.
Cravings
Salt, sugar, fat: The Indian food regulator’s savoury nudge
The three building blocks of flavour have come to haunt processed food makers and restaurant owners everywhere. Is the food regulator’s proposal to make food healthier whetting the appetite or the apprehension of food businesses?
An 11-member group of experts identified that three ingredients—fat, salt and sugar—significantly increased the risk of chronic diseases—diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular, which lead to half of all deaths in India
The food regulator will ask food manufacturers for about 30% salt reduction
Hindustan Unilever acknowledges that while 69% of its products are compliant with the WHO salt limit, the remaining aren’t
PepsiCo says that it plans to reduce sodium, the key element in salt, in 75% of the food portfolio by 2025
