India Food Stats

The  Codex Alimentarius , established by the UN and WHO, offers a global framework for food labelling standards. While adherence to this "food code" is voluntary, its implementation varies worldwide.  In terms of nutritional labelling, it is a compulsory practice in most major economies, including the US (since the 1990s), India, China (2013), Japan, Australia, and EU nations (2016). Labelling helps consumers to make an informed choice while purchasing their foodstuffs. Nutrition information on labels on the back or side of packaging is provided per 100 grams or per 100 millilitres and sometimes per portion/serving of the food or drink. The definition of what constitutes HFSS (high fat, sugar and salt) food has not been clearly spelt out by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). On August 7, 2026, the FSSAI released a draft regulation suggesting that solid foods with more than 4.2 g of fat, 3 g of sugar, or 0.625 g of salt per 100 g should be classified as hav...

I analyzed 228 products (with known nutrition facts as of March 16, 2024) in the  Biscuits category of the India database of Open Food Facts  - the 'Wikipedia of food', Not surprisingly, a majority  of these products received a  Nova Group  grading of 4, indicating Ultra-Processed Food (UPF) status , the red alert for unhealthy choices!  The data, which has been obtained from Open Food Facts and subsequently cleaned up, is  available on GitHub in CSV format . To make it easier to slice and dice the data, view the above data on Github with the  Flat Viewer tool . The following screenshot from a view generated by that tool shows graphs of the distribution by weight of content of sugars and added sugar in 100 gms of the SKUs. Some cream biscuit varieties popular among kids not only contain a high quantity of sugar but also cholesterol and trans fats. Plastic is the most common form of packaging.  The weight of retail biscuit packs can vary signi...

I've noticed that egg cartons and crates are typically made of paper pulp. However, when purchasing eggs online from platforms like Flipkart, those packaged in paper pulp cartons often arrive damaged, despite being wrapped in cellophane or plastic, which seems wasteful. I was pleasantly surprised to find that  Siddipet Eggs  uses innovative cardboard packaging, which has significantly reduced the damage during transit.