LAHORE: The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) has directed all fast food restaurants and hotels of the province to clearly mention nutrition information on the packaging of the food items for the consumers to know what they are eating.

The PFA has set a deadline of December 2023 to implement the revised limits of trans fatty acid 2 gram per 100 gram in every food item, Dawn has learnt.

The FOPL (front-of-pack-labelling) is applicable to all pre-packaged food items along with inclusion of calorie/energy, sodium, fats, sugar and allergen contents on the standard menu of the fast food restaurants, five and four-star hotels and recreation clubs with reference to pre-packaged food items, excluding ingredients/additives, desserts, fried and fast food, sugar/sweetened beverages. The PFA aimed to ban the sale of hydrogenated fats in Punjab that are a major cause for carcinogenicity and cardiovascular diseases, according to sources.

The revised trans-fatty acid limit 2gm/100gm is applicable to table margarine, industrial margarine, margarine spread, shortening, banaspati, bakery fat, biscuit and bread rusk and 5gm/100gm to oils/fats during frying.

PFA sets deadline of December for FOPL on all packaged food

The death toll due to cardiovascular diseases in Pakistan is approximately 40pc and as per the World Health Organisation (WHO), trans fatty acid in food is a leading cause of 500,000 deaths per year due to cardiovascular diseases. The PFA had set a deadline of one year for the industry to bring trans-fatty acids percentage to 0.5 and primarily, it was notified as 10pc in the Punjab Pure Food Regulations 2017.

Hydrogenation of palm oil leads to the formation of trans fats–an important cause of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, infertility, memory loss, high blood pressure,

diabetes and obesity. Currently, Pakistan is the only country consuming trans fat at the highest proportion in Asia.

PFA Director General Raja Jahangir Anwar told Dawn that a special implementation committee had been established to implement the FOPL warning and limit trans fatty acid in pre-packaged food items. The committee would submit reports on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s Strategic Reforms is launching an awareness campaign for keeping the consumers informed about the calorie intake, food nutrition value and promoting healthy eating across the country from Aug 14.

The initiative aims at creating awareness among the citizens with regards to food nutrition value across the country and making the restaurants ensure labelling each food item (mentioning the percentage of proteins, fats, oils, carbohydrates as well as total calorie count) to keep the citizens informed and facilitate them in keeping track of the calories consume.

Talking to Dawn, PM’s Strategic Reforms head Salman Sufi termed it crucial to educate the people about the impact of their dietary choices on their overall health. He said the issue would hold great significance for the public health and it was essential that the relevant stakeholders should collaborate to strategise effective measures to address it.

“A country-wide awareness campaign would be launched on Aug 14 to encourage the citizens to consume proportionate amounts of oil, sodium and fats and promote portion control and moderation in food consumption. The consumers should consume fruit, vegetables, whole grains and healthy products instead of street food. They should keep track of calorie intake in every food item they consume and their daily calorie intake should be kept between 2,000 to 2,500.”

Mr Sufi said the campaigns would also include action like adding a tagline/label on food items specifying the foods that are healthy and the ones having high percentage of trans fat dangerous to health.

He said five and four star restaurants/hotels and international fast-food chains had been engaged for following the pattern of food labeling (calorie count, a percentage of protein fats, carbohydrates etc) to educate the citizens and keep them aware of the calories they were consuming. The labeling would also indicate the adverse effects that might occur on consuming fats/oily foods, he added.

In this regard, Ministry of Health Services Regulations and Coordination, provincial Food Regulatory Authorities, Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), food manufacturing associations, Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturing Association (PVMA) and food manufacturing companies had been taken onboard to design campaign drives, Mr Sufi added.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2023