A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre to frame guidelines for health star ratings and warning for the industry producing packaged food items and beverages.
BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay also asked the court to direct the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) to examine WHO recommendations on fat, salt and sugar intake and prepare a comprehensive report on the health impact assessment within three months.
His plea contended that if the Centre introduced the rule to display a warning on the packet of the food items with excess fat, sugar or salt, citizens might be able to stop the spread of various non-communicable diseases such as obesity and cholesterol which are caused due to consuming such food.
Such measures have been implemented in many countries like the US, Australia and New Zealand and the change was evident from the first year, resulting in a drop of 3-15% in the cases of such diseases, it claimed.
"In India, 60 per cent of total deaths are caused due to the lifestyle which involves problematic working hours and use of junk food items. Our 10 per cent of calorie intake comes from packed foods and beverages. Various researches have been conducted on the display of warning on food items. In Mexico alone, this system led to a decline of 15 per cent in obesity which estimates to around 15 lakh people," the plea said.
It further contended that the injury to citizens was extremely large here due to inaction of the Centre and the FSSAI, and the Right to Health guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution was being brazenly offended.