Packaged foods dodge revealing information on contents

Chennai: It is not just the Indian packaged food product manufacturers who shy away from revealing product information on their packaging as required by law; the packaging on even imported food products falls woefully short of providing the information required by law.

A survey by the Delhi-based, consumer NGO, Voluntary Organisation in the Interest of Consumer Education (VOICE) found popular packaged foods like imported and Indian- baby food, confectionaries, fruit juices, carbonated drinks, processed fruits / vegetable / seafood, meat products and sauces do not provide the information statutorily mandated.

Not only that, many imported food products were also found to contain banned ingredients.

Says chief executive officer Bejon Misra, "The imported baby food packets do not contain the manufacturers' name and address, importers' names and address, maximum retail price, nor did their label have the "green dot" symbol to denote vegetarian food. Further, the packaging did not carry the statement that mother's milk is the best for the baby and also omitted the mode of preparation. However, the packages carry the picture of a baby."

Similarly fruit juices like Northland Cranberry Grapes do not mention the batch number, date of manufacture, expiry date and the flavours used. "Coffee creamer Licht and Romig Koffiecreamer contains an anti-caking agent banned in India, while Owl Kopi O does not mention the ingredients."

The packaging on many imported food products is printed in Korean, Chinese, Japanese and other foreign languages.

According to Misra, the government should educate the port authorities about the labeling regulations and strict vigil should be maintained at the ports. "The consumers should cultivate the habit of reading the label and look for information like manufacturer's name, date of manufacture and expiry date before buying a product."