The “health star rating” system that the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) plans to adopt in order to help consumers reduce their intake of unhealthy foods is “not evidence-based” and has failed to alter buyer behaviour, claim over 40 global experts in a letter to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya. They argue that “warning labels” instead have been most effective in various countries.
In a meeting on February 15, 2022, the FSSAI decided to adopt the “health-star rating system”, which gives a product 1/2 a star to 5 stars, in its draft regulations for front of package labelling (FOPL). The decision was based on the recommendations of a study by the IIM Ahmedabad the regulator had commissioned in September 2021. In the same meeting, the regulator decided that FOPL implementation could be made voluntary for a period of four years.
These experts have said the health star rating (HSR) system adopted in countries like Australia and New Zealand has not resulted into any meaningful behaviour change and that eight years after their implementation there is “ still no evidence of HSRs having a significant impact on the nutritional quality of people’s food and beverage purchases”.
