London/New Delhi: India's proposal to put health warning labels on some food products has sparked a nationwide debate over how the country came to rely on cheap packaged food while companies sold more nutritious versions of the same brands in other markets.
With an income per household well below the global average, Indians are keen consumers of cheap food products such as Nestle-owned Maggi instant noodles and Coca-Cola Co's Thums Up - giving big food manufacturers a huge market with little pressure to apply the food standards they adopt in many other countries.
