Aligarh Consultation on Children’s Nutrition rights through Package food Labelling

Background & Context: 

The Consultation on Children's Right to Nutrition through Package Food Labelling aims to improve nutritional standards for children and highlights Front-of-Pack Labelling (FOPL) as a means to create an enabling environment where parents can make better informed, healthier food choices for themselves and their children. Over the last century, poor diet has contributed to more deaths than any other risk factor, and is a major cause of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease worldwide. Global estimates indicate that nearly 2.3 billion children and adults are obese. Increasingly available ultra-processed foods, which are high in refined carbohydrates, sugars, sodium, saturated fats, and saturated fats, are contributing to the obesity epidemic.

 

Rural and urban India consumes nearly 10% of their total caloric intake from processed foods. Nearly 30% of the calories consumed by urban households in the highest income group come from processed foods.

Using data from The Burden of Packaged Food on Schoolchildren by The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the Know Your Diet Study (2017) found that 53% of children consumed salty packaged foods such as chips and instant noodles on average more than twice a week. Approximately 56% of children consume sweet packaged foods such as chocolates and ice cream at least twice a week. Sugar-sweetened packaged beverages were consumed by 49% of children twice or more a week. Sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy food choices, such as an increase in pre-packaged foods, have increased obesity rates and Non- Communicable Diseases (NCDs).

 

Furthermore, in recognition of the vulnerability of children, the Indian Constitution, adopted in 1950, guarantees them certain fundamental rights, among which are the right to good nutrition, healthcare, and education. Moreover, through its convention on child rights, the United Nations recognized 12 sets of rights for children, which most of the nations across the globe embraced and incorporated into their policies and laws.

The UNCRC considers good nutrition and healthy as food fundamental rights and urges national governments worldwide to include nutrition goals in National Programmes of Action to protect children's rights enshrined in the convention¹.Through its flagship nutrition program, the Prime Minister's Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition (POSHAN) Abhiyaan or National Nutrition Mission, the Government of India aims to improve nutrition outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers².Through an act passed in 2005, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights also vouched for protecting children's rights including access to healthy food and good nutrition.

India is one of the global leaders in the food and beverage industry. India is one of the top five markets for processed packaged food in the world and the second largest market in Asia, with 34 million tons in sales. It was estimated that packaged food sales would reach 47 million tons by 2020. In accordance with Euro-monitor’s forecasts, India was expected to become the world's third largest market for packaged food by 2020, behind China and the United States. In recent years, factors such as increasing income per capita, globalization, lower prices, changing preferences and beliefs of consumers, and rapid urbanization have contributed to a change in diet patterns and acceptance of processed and pre-packaged foods and beverages.

First thousand days impact on low-income Indians:

India still suffers from widespread undernutrition. Low birth weight status and poor diets among the poor lead to critical developmental issues that lead to a significant increased risk of diabetes, hypertension later in life. It appears that the limited decline in under nutrition in India may be partially linked to the increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods and beverages among infants and young children (Freely, Ndeye Coly et al. 2016, Nordhagen, Pries et al. 2019, Pries, Filteau et al. 2019, Pries, Rehman et al. 2019). One study has associated ultra-processed foods with reduced length for age (the measure of stunting for children aged 2 years) (Pries, Rehman et al. 2019). This literature is incomplete, and we can only speculate that in the future ultra-processed foods may be proved to impact undernutrition. The critical direct causes are poor maternal nutrition and poor complementary feeding and overall weak weaning foods in terms of nutrient density.

 

A Front of Packet Labelling (FOPL) regulation in India should be; 

1.     Empowering consumers, including parents, with accurate information in the most lucid way and making consumers aware of food products that are high in fat, sugar and salt content.
2.   Comprise an underpinning nutrient profile model that limits high consumption of salt, sugar and fat through packaged food, thereby ensuring health and nutrition rights of the children protected.

Set in this context, PIPAL, PVHCR, Resident Doctors Association (RDA) Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College Hostel (JNMCH), AMU, Non-Teaching Staff Co-ordination Committee, Aligarh, Department of Social Work, AMU, Department of Sociology, Childline and SOCH— Beyond the Imagination, are organising Public Consultation with relevant and important stakeholders including grassroots civil society organizations; citizen groups; health, Women & child right advocates; policy think-tank; faith leaders; medical professionals; nutrition scientists & activities; and members of press on November 1, 2021 at Old Boys Lodge, Aligarh Muslim University to raise awareness on growing prevalence of childhood obesity and NCDs in vulnerable and marginalized groups of the society particularly children, women, youths, Dalits and minorities.

 Expectation from Stakeholder consultation: 

Since FOPL is a very new issue confronting the health and nutritional rights of children, pregnant women and lactating mothers and has its importance in realization of fundamental rights of vulnerable and marginalized section of the society, it become critical that relevant stakeholders working to safeguard rights of children and other vulnerable groups are sensitized on the need for national nutrition standards and FOPL as a Food Policy instrument for protection of the right of marginalized and vulnerable for health and nutrition.

Further, we are also looking forward to see this consultation may become a platform for mobilizing and amplifying mothers’ voices for safeguarding their children from ill-effects of ultra-processed package food and consensus emerge on need of strong scientific FOPL based on global best practices endorse by Indian health experts.

We are proposing to initiate network of mass movement and grassroots organization to initiate a national campaign to create public awareness on Nutrition standards and FOPL Nutrition standards and mobilize voices and opinions in favour of safeguarding the health & nutritional interest of women, children and other marginalized groups in India

 

Communication Message:

1.    To address growing burden of NCDs, malnutrition and obesity among children, youth, women and other social & economically marginalized groups and adverse effect of the packed food in the proper physical and mental  growth.  It is not just for the child’s own prospects – in childhood itself and on into adulthood. The Resident Doctors Association, Non- teaching staffs of Aligarh Muslim University, Childline India and civil society organisations are coming together to launch public awareness campaign to demand stronger National Nutrition standards and scientific evidence-based Front of Packet Labelling (FOPL) for safeguarding health and nutrition rights of children and other vulnerable groups.

2.    Medical Professionals, non- teaching staff and CSOs are coming together to support the demands of mother for scientific evidence-based Front of Packet Labelling (FOPL) for safeguarding health and nutrition rights of children and youths.

 

1 https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention/what-is-the-convention

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