'Transparency' packs the punch: Sales of packaged health foods with clean ingredients surge 60% in 2 months

New Delhi: Despite front-pack-nutrition labelling still to be enforced, sales of packaged products that are making transparent healthy ingredient claims have surged by anywhere between 50-60% year-on-year over the past two months, executives at online and physical retail chains said.

"People are very clearly making choices of upgrading to products that are being transparent about ingredient claims- even if they're making limited claims on pack fronts or nutrition information on the back of packs," said Nishant Dalal, vice-president, consumables, FMCG and healthcare, and head beauty and general merchandise at ecommerce platform Flipkart. "In the past, there would be traction for such brands and then start flattening. Now we're seeing consistent growth of such products even if they're premium priced-that is playing out very, very strongly," he said.

On Wednesday, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) proposed a single-phase rollout of front-of-pack labelling (FOPL) before the Supreme Court, for packaged foods to declare levels of sugar, salt or fats in red hexagonal labels. While the contentious FOPL issue has been in the making for nearly a decade amid pushback from big food companies, the matter has escalated in recent months with the Supreme Court intervention, leading to a surge in chatter on consumer forums as well as social media platforms. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the matter next on September 28.

The FSSAI itself announces violations such as mis-labelling on packs and exaggerated or incorrect claims, as well as enforcement measures extensively on social media platforms, which directly inform consumers about lapses and misleading claims on packs.

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"We are seeing that consumers are willing to engage more deeply with food when transparency and freshness are made visible," Arvind Mediratta, founder at Elixiir Foods, which runs gourmet food retail stores under FreshTerra, said. He said guilt-free snacks are among the best-sellers on the stores, adding that "consumers are opting to see what's inside the pack".

Even though packaged foods makers aren't yet declaring prominent front-pack claims about salt, sugar or fats, multiple brands claims such as 'good for gut', 'no artificial colours', or 'with millets'.

"It's inevitable that front-pack labelling will come into force sooner than later. But consumers are already making the shift to products that claim even some measure of healthy ingredients-we are seeing a sharp surge on our platform since the past two months," said an executive at a quick commerce platform.

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Ingredient transparency and functional packaging are playing a key role in reshaping how consumers are buying packaged foods and particularly snacking brands, a recent Farmley Healthy Snacking report said. According to the report, 60% parents are opting to pay more for healthier snacks for their children, highlighting the premiumisation of kids' nutrition. The report said a majority 86% consumers saw protein as a key factor while buying snacks, with more than six in ten consumers opting for snacks sweetened with natural ingredients such as dates and jaggery, instead of sugar.

The FSSAI has itself issued notices to more than 150 food and beverage makers in recent months.