Hidden dangers in your food

Download App The Supreme Court comes down heavily on the FSSAI dragging its feet on misleading labels on packaged foods and urges the $140 bn Indian food processing industry to be upfront about the ingredients in their products(Illustration by Nilanjan Das/AI) The battle is over a few square centimetres. Yet it could determine how millions of Indians decide what to eat. We are talking about the label on food products. Walk down a supermarket aisle and the front of the colourful package beckons you enticingly: ‘high protein’, ‘no added sugar’, ‘multigrain’, ‘heart-healthy’ or ‘rich in vitamins’. But how much sugar, salt or saturated fat the product has is usually relegated to a nutritional table on the back, in small type that is hard to decipher. And studies have repeatedly shown that an excessive amount of any of these ingredients can be extremely harmful.