Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan launched a year-long social and mass media campaign ‘Eat Right India’ with the slogan: ‘Sahi Bhojan, Behtar Jeevan’ on September 5.

Central food regulator FSSAI has trained about 1.7 lakh supervisors over a span of two years to create awareness on healthy eating habits and ensure street vendors meet safety standards, Vardhan said.

He also sought a mass movement on preventive and promotive health in the backdrop of increasing burden of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and heart ailments, and rampant food-borne illnesses.

Eat Right India is being helmed by the FSSAI as crucial a tool to bring a change through a judicious mix of regulatory measures, combined with soft interventions for ensuring awareness and capacity building of food businesses and citizens alike.

Eat Right India is aligned with the government’s flagship public health programmes such as the Poshan Abhiyaan, the Ayushman Bharat Yojana and the Swachh Bharat Mission “to lead us to a New India, which the prime minister wishes to deliver to the people by 2022”, the minister said.

Eat Right India is a crucial trigger for much needed social and behavioural change. This along with the Fit India Movement, launched by the prime minister, will help fight lifestyle diseases like hypertension, obesity and diabetes effectively, Vardhan said.

WHO’s regional director for South East Asia Poonam Khetrapal Singh said the campaign is an example of multi-sectoral collaborative approach that the UN body has been advocating to address non-communicable diseases.

Background

To improve public health in India and combat negative nutritional trends to fight lifestyle diseases, FSSAI launched The Eat Right Movement on July 10, 2018.

The food industry, public health professionals, civil society and consumer organisations, influencers and celebrities came together on a common platform and pledged to take concrete steps to amplify The Eat Right Movement in the country.

The strength of the The Eat Right Movement lies in its holistic and collaborative approach, with stakeholders on both the demand and supply-side joining to make a difference through some clearly identified steps.

On the demand side, The Eat Right Movement focuses on empowering citizens to make the right food choices.

On the supply side, it nudges food businesses to reformulate their products, provide better nutritional information to consumers and make investments in healthy food as responsible food businesses.

The Eat Right Movement brings together three ongoing initiatives of the FSSAI…

Safe and Nutritious Food Initiative: Focused on social and behavioural change around food safety and nutrition at home, school, workplace and on-the-go.

The Eat Healthy Campaign: Focused on reduction of high fat, sugar and salt foods in the diet.

Food Fortification: Focused on promoting five staple foods - wheat flour, rice, oil, milk and salt that are added with key vitamins and minerals to improve their nutritional content.

Measures by FSSAI

FSSAI has prescribed a limit for Total Polar Compounds (TPC) at 25 per cent in cooking oil to avoid the harmful effects of reused cooking oil.

Standards for five fortified staples - wheat flour, rice, oil, milk and salt to reduce large-scale deficiencies of vitamins and minerals have been notified, in addition to standards for health supplements, nutraceuticals, prebiotics and probiotics products.

To trigger informed consumer choices regulations on ‘Advertising and Claims’ and mandatory menu labeling has been notified. In addition, labeling provisions have been made for appropriate use of sweeteners for children and pregnant women.

To reach the target of Trans-fat Free India by 2022, regulations to reduce trans-fats to less than 2 per cent in all oils, fats and food products are in place.

Promoting sustainability, FSSAI has removed the restriction on the use of returnable bottles and is promoting the use of bamboo instead of plastics.