Put the squeeze on unhealthy F&B, GoI
Processed food and drinks have internationally been subject to voluntary caps on fat, salt and sugar. Front-of-package labelling has been used to effectively signal health choices, and sin taxes have been deployed to deter consumption. India has a demerit tax on sugary drinks, but is yet to get its manufacturers to cut back on sugar levels prevalent in Europe, the US or even in Singapore.
With the incidence of diabetes climbing, India could leverage low penetration and market potential to drive a harder bargain over nutritional standards in packaged food and beverages.
This involves imposing higher thresholds of evidence on claims such as 'energy' and 'super' foods and drinks, and a mezzanine level of statutory warnings over ingredients used to enhance flavour or extend shelf life. Pictorial depictions in packaging cut through the encrypted nutritional information in current package labelling like traffic lights. This becomes even more critical in rural markets with low awareness, which is where most growth is expected.
Industry pushback over visual nutritional guidance should not be allowed to defer voluntary or mandatory compliance indefinitely.
The third tack would be to ration intake of substances with established negative side-effects, like caffeine and sleep deprivation, by regulating the serving size. This is far more difficult to execute, however, with business models built around increasing per-capita consumption. Effective intervention would be a blended approach of taxation, improved nutrition signalling and penalising mis-selling.
