Financial Times

Honest food labels - at last
The tough new labelling and advertising regulations that come into effect in April would certainly be welcome news for consumers bombarded with all sorts of fancy claims by local and foreign companies manufacturing and selling food products.

The new rules, which include restrictions on nutritional and protein claims by producers of health foods, are indeed timely because consumption of such products have become a fad and are being promoted aggressively. In fact the rules, under the Food (Labelling and Advertising) Regulations 2003, should have come in much earlier.

Given the difficulties and red tape associated with making complaints and having them investigated and acted upon, proactive regulation of this type which are meant to prevent abuse is the best solution.

After all, it is our health that is at stake. Greedy private companies cannot be allowed to make money by putting at risk the health of consumers. The government should also expedite moves to increase penalties for violations under the new regulations, which are a mere Rs 5,000 today.

This newspaper has taken up such concerns on behalf of consumers in the past and has just announced plans to launch a forum devoted to some of the issues covered by the new laws - questionable and unethical adverting. This was in response to numerous letters and complaints we received from our readers about improper and misleading advertising.

One drawback in preventing this sort of abuse that the new rules are designed to fight is the lack of consumer awareness. Unlike in the West or even in India, few consumers here have the time or the energy to take up such issues. They are too busy in the daily struggle for survival to take an active stance on consumer rights.

But now that the country appears to be coming out of poverty, at least judging by the per capita income indicator and other symbols of affluence commonly associated with developed nations, consumer protection rules have a better chance of working. There is a growing middle class that has become more aware of consumer protection issues.

The rule preventing fancy claims about dietary fats being a protection against heart disease is particularly welcome given the abundance of such claims seen on the shelves of supermarkets. So is the one on small print that covers an area that has been troubling consumers. Today many products use extremely small print to give crucial information, such as expiry dates. This is certainly of concern to consumers, particularly elderly ones with poor eyesight who find it difficult to read such fine print.

The rule that labels must appear in at least two of the local languages is also useful in a multi-lingual society such as ours. Another issue that needs to be looked into is in cosmetics and drugs regulations. Here too there is a new trend towards marketing products promoting health and anti-aging properties. Again, this amounts to a fad and there are all sorts of products being promoted aggressively by manufacturers and marketers trying to cash in on the new health consciousness of the consuming public and the age-old desire to delay the effects of aging.

There is no point in having laws and regulations if they are not implemented properly and if the implementing authority is not given the wherewithal for proper implementation. Above all, the new laws would be meaningless, if manufacturers and marketers in the corporate sector which makes so much noise about good governance these days, are not committed to avoiding the use of dishonest claims to sell their products.

Back to Business