India Food Stats

Reuters has reported that the more than $100 billion packaged-food industry, through the All India Food Processors’ Association (AIFPA), filed a court submission (intervener’s affidavit) in the Supreme Court seeking review/re-examination of the planned FSSAI front-of-pack warning labels (red hexagonal labels for products high in added sugar, salt, and/or saturated fat). The filing argues that many staples risk being covered in warnings that “will tarnish the image of Indian food globally.”  AIFPA referred to its earlier submissions to the regulator claiming that nearly 80% of packaged-food products may fall into the high fat, sugar, or salt category under the proposed thresholds (based on per-100g/100ml absolute values drawn from ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines).  The 80% figure is the industry body’s own estimate/claim (not an independent verification), raised to argue the thresholds are too strict and need scientific re-examination in light of Indian dietary patterns, serving s...

There’s a special kind of magic in the freezer aisle. You reach for something that looks like ice cream, feels like ice cream and tastes remarkably like ice cream.  Then you flip the pack over and discover you’ve actually been invited to a slightly more complicated party. Images: Open Food Facts The ingredients list reads like a carefully negotiated treaty between dairy and the vegetable kingdom: potable water, sugar, milk solids, and then refined palm oil (along with its friends maltodextrin, starch, emulsifiers, stabilisers, and a supporting cast of colours and nature-identical flavours). The pack helpfully notes it contains 4.5% edible vegetable oil. That’s the quiet plot twist. What you’re enjoying isn’t ice cream at all, but a frozen dessert. So yes, you can call it “fake ice cream” if you’re feeling dramatic. Just know the manufacturers have already done the legal paperwork and called it something else. It looks the part. It melts the part. It delivers that soft, creamy hit o...

After hearing glowing recommendations for Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss on the Open Food Facts forum, I picked up the book with a simple question in mind: How can someone write 400 pages about three basic ingredients — salt, sugar and fat? Three months later, after slowly working my way through the book, the answer became clear. These three ingredients are not just kitchen staples. In the hands of the trillion-dollar processed food industry, they have been carefully engineered to make foods convenient, irresistible, and hard to stop eating. Reading the book was both validating and chilling. Validating, because many of us already suspect something strange about ultra-processed foods. Chilling, because Moss reveals just how deliberately these products are designed. Although the book focuses on American companies, the lessons apply globally. Multinational food giants routinely transfer successful strategies from one country to another. Take the example of ...

Palm oil is a widely used ingredient found in a vast array of processed food and consumer products. Its presence in everyday items like chocolates, biscuits, cakes, soaps, shampoos, and cleaning products underscores its significance in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector.  Did you know that in products like instant noodles, palm oil can comprise up to 20% of the total weight according to this NDTV Profit article . Palm oil constitutes a significant portion of the raw material costs for many FMCG companies.  For giants like Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUL), this essential ingredient can make up 15-20% of their total raw material expenses, while it is even higher for Britannia and Nestle. HUL obtains its supply from its subsidiary, Unilever Oleochemical Indonesia.  The recent 12% surge in palm oil prices, representing a 46% year-on-year increase, has put a strain on these companies, squeezing their profit margins.  To mitigate the impact of rising prices, compani...