Labelling of products needs more stringent laws

There need to be strict products labelling standards and its implementation. Food labelling is required for most prepared foods such as breads, cereals, canned foods, snacks, deserts and drinks.

“The law should require that such products carry a nutrition facts label. Such labels are required to carry product specific details, including serving size, calories and nutrient information, including that on fats, sodium and fibre,” says Asghar Ali from Dhoke Muhammad Khan.

“Is violation of nutrition standards a punishable offence, I don’t know but that much I have observed that none of the standards is being followed,” says Riffat Hasan from Dhoke Hafiz.

“The food safety and standards law does not regulate the manufacture, storage and distribution of food items, does not make any distinction between the food products manufactured by the business companies and those sold by street hawkers and ‘dhabas’,” adds Riffat.

“Provisions relating to nutrient declaration are no clear and the rather ambiguous requirements on ingredients are perceived by many FMCGs as tantamount to giving out ‘sensitive information’ to competitors,” Shabbir Naqvi from Fazal Town.

Hussain Taqi from Faisal Colony says: “Compulsory nutrition labelling will provide consumers with a basis for making qualitative comparisons between different food products in the same category. Consumers will be less likely to be taken advantage of; in a nation fraught with poverty, this is of crucial significance.”

“Decisions on health and nutrition will take on a new significance with consumers more aware of what to consume and how much. While nutrition is a vast subject, we need more stringent and specific regulations governing the labelling of products. This is necessary for the necessary paradigm shift we need in our approach to matters concerning nutrition and health,” adds Taqi.

“Although many FMCGs provide nutrition information on packets of food products, however, we still have a long way to go. In comparison to the mandatory nutritional labelling regulations and the manner the law is implemented in other countries, we lag behind,” says Matloob Hussain from Mangral Town.

Any product bought in this city, be it a bag of chips or a can of baked beans, will tell you how much fat it contains and how much of one’s serving contributes to a Daily Value, the daily recommended allowance of carbohydrate, fat, sodium, cholesterol or sodium. The provision of such information can go a long way towards giving a better script for the nation’s collective health,” says Anum Zaidi from Gulzar-e-Quaid.

“All packaged food products must be labelled in line with the regulations dictated by law. However, it is a fallacy to assume that the packaging and labelling of a food product indicates its quality or usefulness,” adds Anum.