Consensus Statement on Front-of-Pack Nutrition Warning Labels on the High Fat, Sugar & Salt Food/Drink Products in India

Abstract India is facing a growing epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular illnesses, which is driven largely by the consumption of unhealthy diets containing ultra-processed and high-fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) food and beverage products. Consumption of such products is rising sharply via aggressive advertising and misleading labels. Overwhelming scientific evidence from India and globally supports mandatory front-of-pack warning labels (WLs) on food products found high in fats/sugars or salt. WLs are proven to be more effective than proposed Health Star Rating (HSR), which in India has been adopted as Indian Nutrition Rating (INR) in reducing unhealthy food purchases and consumption. It gathers support from national policy commitments, economic survey, Supreme Court directive for urgent regulatory action and the Prime Minister’s call to halt obesity. This consensus statement provides concrete recommendations, especially for replacing the proposed Indian Nutrition Rating (or Health Star Rating) system with WLs, restricting marketing to children and ensuring trade agreements do not undermine public health policy. This position paper is endorsed by 29 national organisations from the fields of public health, agriculture, environment, medicine, nutrition, consumer issues etc.