Assessment of front and back of pack nutrition labels of selected convenience food products and snacks available in the Indian market

Shobana, S., Sangavi, G., Wuni, R., Priyanka, B., Leelavady, A., Kayalvizhi, D., Anjana, R. M., Krishnaswamy, K., Vimaleswaran, K. S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8485-8930 and Mohan, V. (2024) Assessment of front and back of pack nutrition labels of selected convenience food products and snacks available in the Indian market. PLoS ONE, 19 (12). e0314819. ISSN 1932-6203 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0314819

Abstract/Summary

Nutrition labels on packaged food items provide at-a-glance information about the nutritional composition of the food, serving as a quick guide for consumers to assess the quality of food products. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the nutritional information on the front and back of pack labels of selected packaged foods in the Indian market. A total of 432 food products in six categories (idli mix, breakfast cereals, porridge mix, soup mix, beverage mix and extruded snacks) were investigated by a survey. Nutritional profiling of the foods was done based on the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) claims regulations. The healthiness of the packaged foods was assessed utilising nutritional traffic light system. The products were classified into 'healthy', 'moderately healthy' and 'less healthy' based on the fat, saturated fat, and sugar content. Most of the food products evaluated belong to healthy' and 'moderately healthy' categories except for products in extruded snacks. Reformulation of 'extruded snacks' are necessary to decrease the total and saturated fat content. The nutrient content claims were classified using the International Network for Food and Obesity / NCDs Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS) taxonomy. Protein, dietary fibre, fat, sugar, vitamins and minerals were the most referred nutrients in the nutrient content claims. Breakfast cereal carried highest number of nutritional claims while porridge mix had the lowest number of claims. The overall compliance of the nutrient content claims for the studied food products is 80.5%. This study gives an overall view about the nutritional quality of the studied convenience food products and snacks in Indian market.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/119921
Identification Number/DOI	10.1371/journal.pone.0314819
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health (IFNH) Life Sciences > School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy > Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences > Human Nutrition Research Group
Publisher	Public Library of Science
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