Many ultra -processing foods have much more than recommended daily intake of sugar, salt and fat, and the analysis of mint in seven categories has been shown. While breakfast cereals and flavored yoghurt have an extremely high sugar content, ready to create UPMA/POHA blinked red on all three fronts: sugar, salt and fat. Soy millet, hamburger patties and fried chicken, while low sugar content, had high salt and fat. While sugar beverages in India carry a total tax of 40% (28% GST Plus 12% compensatory tax), higher than 10-20% of the tax, which is common worldwide, ultra-processed and unhealthy food must not face the same tax burden.
GST analysis according to MINCNOVA shows change in taxation. Skogary/caffeine/carbonated drinks attract the highest tax, while beverages of fruit juices, cakes and cereals, among other things, are taxed 12% or 18%. (Earlier analysis from mint Plain Facts found a high sugar content in “fruit drinks”).
Also read: A practical guide to help you reduce processed food
Define and conquer
Public health experts said that it is necessary to categorize unhealthy food and collect higher taxes. “We have some products such as Cola, but not all sweet drinks such as fruit juices with added sugar. A more coordinated policy where” health tax “is stored across all foods with high sugar, salt and fat foods.
According to a survey of household consumption expenditure, the processed food has a significant share in the consumption of Indians. The survey 2023-24 showed that drinks, refreshments and processed foods had a 9.8% share in rural areas and 11.1% stake in urban areas. However, processed food may not always be unhealthy. It is an ultra -processed meal that is subject to heavy industrial processing and contains a high level of unsaturated fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) along with additives, which is real concern. The lack of a clear definition leads to ultra -processed food is referred to as “unhealthy food”, “food ready for food”, “processed food” and “packaged food”.
Read also: All you need to know about ultra -processed food
Despite a significant increase in the consumption of ultra -performed foods, the regulations in India remain poor, with measures such as marking on the front of the pack and standardized components marking. According to Millennial-Mind-CPR Yougov-Mint-CPR, carried out in July 2024, almost a third of urban Indians felt it was fine to eat processed food often.
This increased consumption could worsen health problems in India. Almost 40% of adult Indians already have abdominal obesity and 24% high cholesterol levels, according to study 2023 Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR).
Fine balance
While the “health tax” is considered to be a way to reduce the consumption of ultrasound food, Varghese research and its co -authors in document 2023 entitled “Estimated the potential impact of health tax on demand for unhealthy foods and drinks and tax revenues in India” show aggressive 20-30% of healthcare. However, the health tax, if collected, should be carried out carefully, as it would disproportionately affect the poor India.
Also Read: A new science about what ultra -processed food is doing your brain
“Studies from other countries indicate that there is a decrease in consumption because of such taxation, but the decline is much more in the lower income category, which is highly sensitive to price changes,” said Tomo Ghosh, Health and Associate Professor at the Institute of Social Sciences Tata. “One has to be careful who could end up with a pain.” Ghosh said that India had to learn from his high tax experience/ban on alcohol, which many consumers have seen who have decided for cheaper, often not recorded and less quality alternatives.
In this context, Denmark offers a warning story. In 2011, the countries introduced a high -saturated food tax, commonly described as the first fat “fat” in the world, but left it when it increased prices and led to loss of jobs, while its role was limited and short -lived.
As an economic survey suggested to solve the problem, multiple approaches-more accessible regulation, stricter labeling, improved branded product monitoring, protection against misleading advertising and awareness and health campaigns are required.
(Tagstotranslate) Ultra processed food India
