Know what you eat – Decoding food labels

Read between the Lines

Nita Jatar Kulkarni.

Published in the Sunday Express on 1st April 2012.

You consume a packet of instant noodles secure in the belief that it contains no monosodium glutamate. After all, the food label claims that it has “No added msg.”

You help yourself to an extra serving of “Diet Chivda,” sure that it’s a low calorie snack.

You pick a brand of biscuits because it says “Zero transfats” and “Zero Cholesterol.”

What if you found out that the instant noodles contain msg, the diet chivda is as calorific and as fat-laden as another, and the biscuits aren’t what you believed them to be? The chances are that

you would feel cheated.

Food laws are not to blame for your dilemma, but the loopholes in the laws are. The law does not make it mandatory for manufacturers to list ingredients inside of an ingredient, allowing unsavoury ingredients to be slipped in. That noodle snack for example contains “Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein” (HVP), a taste enhancer used in many processed foods. This ingredient along with others such as plant proteins, textured proteins and yeast extracts often contain glutamate, an active ingredient of msg. So do other types of “flavour enhancers” in some imported instant noodle brands widely available in supermarkets. Some soya sauces and soy powder are sources of glutamate as well, as are some “spices and condiments”. These taste enhancers save companies money because they substitute for the real thing.

“Today they are using msg in everything, even in food sold loose. It’s found even in paneer! In processed food, it is often hidden in the form of flavour enhancers,” confirms Dr. Smita Lele, President, AFSTI (Mumbai Chapter), an Association of Food Scientists and Technologists. She explains that glutamate is an amino acid, an ingredient of msg, and can cause “similar reactions.”

The issue goes beyond just the health aspects. It isn’t about broken laws either, because laws are not being broken. It’s about consumer choice. Research may have demonstrated that food additives are safe in tiny quantities but a consumer has a right to know what he or she is taking in. 

 “It’s a problem, but stronger laws are coming up to prevent false, surrogate and misleading claims,” says Dr. M.S. Kamath, Hon. Secretary of CGI (Consumer Guidance Society of India). However, these changes are more to do with advertising rather than the labeling. 

An FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority) consumer representative, Vasundhara Deodhar says: “A misleading labelling law is not happening yet but consumer organisations believe that food labels are important as they are a direct form of interaction with consumers.”

Food labels are beyond misleading. They are often undecipherable even though regulation demands that “every declaration made on the package be legible, prominent and unambiguous.” The food labels are ostensibly aimed at the consumer but in reality can be properly understood only by the food authorities. Terms like anti-caking agent, softening agent and thickener make little or no sense to an ordinary consumer. Some chemical additives are impossible to pronounce, and ambiguous terms like “flavour enhancers” are freely used. At times, ingredients are reduced to meaningless numbers. Consumer organisations are aware of the problem. “One of our missions is to make the food labels more user-friendly,” promises Deodhar.

A compulsory nutrition label is meant to address this problem, and to some extent is does. For example the “Diet Chivda” claim can be shot to bits simply by reading the nutrition label. Gram for gram it has as many calories and fat content compared to a popular “Navratan Mix” but more sodium. It has zero vitamins and minerals unlike the other mixture. Nutrition labels have been mandatory for some time, before the new Food Safety Act (enacted 5th August 2011) but the difference lies in the stiff penalties in store for lawbreakers. Misbranding can result in a ₹3 lakh fine.

However, as in the case of ingredient labels, nutrition labels can be manipulated by marketers. A manufacturer who makes a song and dance about his vegetarian non-dairy snack being without cholesterol is not lying, but the truth is that plant based products don’t contain cholesterol anyway. The consumer being tricked into believing that there is something special about his product.

Trans fat quantities on food packs are another unreliable detail. Despite being one of the nastiest ingredients in your food, you will not be able to keep track of how much trans fat you consume. Even in developed countries like the US (one of the first countries to insist on a trans fat label), food laws dictate that trans fat below 0.5 gram can be expressed as "0 g" on the food content and also per serving size. There is no reason to believe that it is any different in India although FDA and other government officials did not confirm this.

As the maximum “recommended” amount of man-made trans fat is between 1-2 grams per day, it is easy to exceed the amount because of inaccurate labeling. Consumer and Health groups in developed countries are fighting tooth and nail for a more accurate representation of trans fat on food labels, but the powerful processed food lobby (which needs to find an inexpensive replacement for trans fat) is resisting.

Health professionals believe that even the daily “allowed” trans fat is too much. Sveta Bhassin, a Clinical and Sports Nutritionist advises that when it comes to trans fats, people should consume “none at all.” 

And Dr. Vijay Surase consultant Interventional Cardiologist explains how “trans fats contribute to clogged arteries and raise your LDL cholesterol and lower your HDL cholesterol.” The dangers of consuming artificial trans fats has been linked to the risk of heart disease in several studies like the 14-year Harvard Medical School Nurses study of 80,082 women (2005) and the 10 year Dutch Zutphen Elderly Study (2001) of 667 men. These studies demonstrated that even tiny quantities of artificially produced trans fat are unsafe. It’s worrisome enough that man-made trans fats are allowed in many countries, including India, (unlike in countries like Denmark, Switzerland Iceland, Sweden, Austria) but a misleading label is more disturbing because trans fats are being consumed unknowingly.

What adds to the burden are trans fats in restaurant and snack foods sold loose. Fast food, fried food, and bakery products can all contain trans fat, and the law doesn’t require them to label. Companies in developed countries are scrambling over themselves to remove trans fats from food voluntarily, but this is not the case in India. “Over there companies and restaurants have a big stake in doing it. Consumer awareness is high and any news item about trans fat or some undesirable additive and their sales could drop by 20%,” explains Kamath.

At least for now Indian consumers have to fend for themselves. Restricting portion sizes is one way of doing it. “People need to stick to small portion sizes as indicated on the label as processed and ready to eat foods are not a replacement for home-cooked meals,” says Deodhar. To give a child a full packet of biscuits to satisfy his hunger is incorrect, she says. However, portion sizes can be unrealistically lowered by marketers, confusing consumers. Some namkeen snacks mention 10 -15 gms to be a single portion and consumers need to ensure that fat content per 100 g is checked, not just per serving.

Considering that almost everything comes in a package nowadays, one has to set limits. A few years of eating synthetic food will take a health toll. “Taking these chemicals in a regular pattern interferes with the hormonal and climatic conditions of the body and can cause problems ranging from undernutrition, obesity, and lowered immunity to diseases like cancer,’ says Bhassin. She points out that even home-cooked food and milk contain adulterants and pesticides, so why add to it by consuming chemicals in processed foods?

Deodhar on her part recommends eating processed foods just twice a week, 2 meals out of 14, and in small portions. This should be done after decoding the food label to check if the food is what it claims to be.

It’s not as if the FDA and FSSAI are not doing their bit to prevent misrepresentation of facts and misbranding. There was Brain Amaze (see box) which was boldly labeled “Amaze Brain Food,” with a claim that it provides 33% of the key nutrients children need daily. 

This claim could not be backed up by scientific evidence. In recent months the FSSAI has reportedly sent notices to the manufacturers of Maggi multigrain noodles, Top Ramen (oats version), Nutrichoice biscuits, Horlicks, Complan, Heartcare biscuits, Bournvita Lil Champs and Pediasure food supplement, asking them to provide a scientific basis for their claims. The grouse of consumer organisations is not that the FSSAI won’t do its job, but that the media won’t report it when it does. If the products are found to be misleading, the news will be suppressed, as was in the case of Brain Amaze. 

“It’s an open secret that the media is managed by companies”, says Deodhar.

When the news doesn’t trickle down to the public, the company’s bottomline doesn’t suffer. Empowered and aware consumers can put pressure on companies, and the media’s role in this cannot be discounted. Says Kamath, “The media not reporting these issues is a big problem because the public is the core of the success of consumer movement.”

Consumer rejection is a strong deterrent and without it one has to hope that heavy penalties (see box) and a the fear of financial loss (if products are forced to withdraw) will make the manufacturers fall in line. The mandated licensing and registration of all food outlets is also expected to help. Once registered, the authorities will find it easier to keep track and conduct checks. 

However, one of the difficulties in the implementation of the new Food Safety Act is the large “cost impact,” says Prabhod Halde, Head product Integrity Marico Ltd and VP at AFSTI. He adds that the “high penalty structure may be difficult for small FBOs (Food Business Operators.” 

Consumer organisations also see the implementation of the new act, particularly the registration and licensing part as a “herculean task.” However, FDA officials are confident. “We are doing it as fast and as early as possible. Our officers are going everywhere, to the villages, to the gram panchayats conducting awareness programmes asking people to register and get licenses,” says Dilip Shrirao, Joint Commissioner FDA, Maharashtra.

That there is a shortage of manpower and infrastructure needed to implement the new Food Safety Act is well known. While Shrirao declined to comment on the subject saying these were “technical matters,” AFSTI’s Lele acknowledged the “severe shortage”, and Deodhar said that more “well equipped government accredited food-testing facilities” were the need of the hour.

Self audit by companies is a problem solving measure, with higher penalties for companies which lie. ”The idea is to make industry more responsible for their own actions,” says Lele. She is confident that this will work in the long term, with results visible in less than five years. Halde too believes that the system will stabilize in time. New product regulations for categorization of foods like health supplements, foods for special dietary uses, and novel foods are expected to streamline the system.

Until then the consumer has to decode food labels himself. Reading labels does not stop with looking at the expiry date and outwitting the manufacturer does not stop at scanning the nutritional information. It also means trusting your taste buds. If a food has the taste of msg, it probably has msg. If a food tastes like maida, not whole wheat, it’s probably made from maida. If it looks artificially coloured, it probably is. So trust your senses. Assume that all baked and fried goods without labels contain trans fat unless you know otherwise. And ask questions. Asking questions about ingredients sends out a strong message. It tells food vendors, hoteliers and marketers that that you have a high food IQ and they have to get their act together.

Case Study: Amaze – Brain Food

(condensed from the FSSAI website and the words of this box are not wholly mine.)

Some of the product claims:

• 33% of key brain nutrients needed by children daily are provided 

• The right type of nutrition in the right combination is provided. • The product increases intake of the Omega-3 nutrient. • The iron in ‘Amaze’ powders is more “bio available” than iron in other • key competitors. • ‘Amaze’ products are designed to be low in saturated fats and trans fats They are nutrient dense

Findings:

• No scientific evidence/justification was provided by the company to back up the statement that the product met the nutrient requirements of a growing brain. 

• No scientific evidence was given to explain why the focus is on 33% of nutrient requirement. 

• It was unclear how the 33% nutrients were “bio available.” 

• There is no category of nutrient specifically meant for brain development or for special cognitive development in WHO recommendations or ICMR Indian recommendations. 

• Development is an inclusive word with physical, mental, social and emotional aspects. 

• It was unclear whether the product is supposed to replace normal meals which can lead to unhealthy developments in the diet of the population. 

• The information provided by the company can be used to support any other similar beverage. 

• There was no evidence available for the Omega- 3 claim. 

• Brain growth and functional development are essentially complete in pre-school age. 

• Some key micronutrients have a role in the cognitive development in early childhood, but except for iron, the role of other micronutrients in cognitive development is not proved in school age children. 

• Indiscriminate consumption of the product can cause side effects which have not been identified or warned against. 

• There was no evidence that the micronutrients in this specific formulation pass the blood brain barrier. 

• There was no evidence presented about appropriate field testing of the product. 

• The nutritive value given on the label is given along with the milk which is to be mixed with the product to form the beverage. Hence the claims on the product were not justified. 

• The conclusion was that the claims by the company relating to brain development of children were not supported by adequate scientific evidence. They were found to be misleading. The product cannot be marketed as a “Brain Food.”

 

List of Consumer Rights

These are the consumer rights enshrined in the Consumer Protection Act in India:

1. Right to Safety A consumer has a right to be protected against marketing of goods and services which are “hazardous”.
2. Right to Information This consumer right is defined as the “the right to be informed about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods or services, as the case may be so as to protect the consumer against unfair trade practices.”
3. Right to Choose This is ‘the right to be assured, wherever possible, to have access to a variety of goods and services at competitive prices’.
4. Right to be Heard This is ‘the right to be heard and to be assured that consumer's interests will receive due consideration at appropriate forums’ is referred to as the right to be heard.
5. Right to Redressal The consumer has the right ‘to seek redressal against unfair trade practices or restrictive trade practices or unscrupulous exploitation of consumers.’
6. Right to Consumer Education Indian citizens have a right to be educated on consumer protection

Consumer Tips in a nutshell:

• Fat-free or Sugar-free does not mean calorie free 

• No added Sugar does not mean sugar is not present in another ingredient. 

• Sugar-free products often contain unsafe artificial sweeteners 

• No Added msg does not mean that monosodium glutamate or glutamate is not present. 

• Organic is not equal to healthy. That depends on the ingredients used. 

• If the salt in grams exceeds the number of calories, the food is will be salty 

• Fresh means either frozen when it was fresh, or the ingredient was never frozen but processed when fresh. 

• Natural or Real usually means dehydrated and processed, although artificial chemicals may not be present. 

• Products containing “100% Real Fruit” or “100% Real vegetables” may contain very little of them. 

• A “whole grain food” may be made of whole grain but it could have excessive calories, too much fat, sugar, and salt, or too many food additives. 

• Claims like ‘no cholesterol’ or ‘low cholesterol’ or ‘cholesterol free’ are meaningless if present on foods of vegetable origin because plant origin foods hardly contain any. 

• The term “light” does not necessarily translate into low fat. This may refer to the texture, colour or taste of the product. 

• Zero trans fats does not mean actually zero. Check if ingredients contain "partially hydrogenated" or “hydrogenated” or "shortening" because if they are present, trans fat is present. 

• Assume all baked and fried food without labels contain trans fats unless you know they don’t. 

• Check nutritional information per 100 gms, not serving size, as serving sizes can be artificially manipulated.

Read more Health articles: Urban living can affect health; Cancer in the city;