States told to cut sugar, salt in food items

The Women and Child Development Ministry has urged the States to adhere to the advisory while implementing take-home rations and hot cooked meals

Hyderabad: The Women and Child Development Ministry has recently issued an advisory, based on a technical report from the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), to all States to reduce refined sugar, salt, preservatives, colours and artificial flavours in take-home rations and hot cooked meals provided to beneficiaries.

The Union Ministry observed that a recent analysis of contents of take-home rations and hot cooked meals provided to beneficiaries in multiple Indian States revealed higher proportions of refined sugar, salt and preservatives.

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This goes against the purpose of providing such supplementary nutrition, which is to reduce malnutrition in children and anemia in women.

The Women and Child Development Ministry has urged the States to adhere to the advisory while implementing take-home rations and hot cooked meals.

“Refined sugar should not be used. Only jaggery should be used for sweetening, if needed. Inclusion of added jaggery should be restricted to less than 5 percent of total energy to avoid excessive intake of discretionary calories,” the advisory said.

Use of foods high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) should be avoided by all age and gender groups. The use of salt should be limited. States must also consider designing Take-Home Rations recipes without adding salt and sugar so that the beneficiaries may use the same as per their taste/preference, the advisory said.

The States must also reduce the number of sweet recipes served in morning snacks and hot cooked meals, and ensure the ingredients used for production of supplementary nutrition are safe and comply with all applicable provisions of Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011, it said.

The foods for infant nutrition i.e. foods intended for 2 year-old children should be free from artificial preservatives, added colours, flavours and other synthetic ingredients and should comply with the food safety regulations. Only emulsifiers which are permitted under the FSSAI are permitted, the advisory added.

Highlighting the dietary guidelines issued by Hyderabad-based NIN, the Women and Child Development Ministry said that there should not be added sugar for children under 2 years of age. In both adults and children, the WHO recommends reducing the intake of free sugars.