For most consumers, the front of a food packet is where trust begins and ends. A cheerful “100% natural”, a bold “high in protein” or a reassuring “no added preservatives” is often enough to tip a shopper towards putting a product in their cart. Few people flip the pack over, and fewer still question whether the manufacturing date printed on it is genuine. Two recent developments in India suggest that this blind trust may be badly misplaced.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court expressed sharp displeasure with the (FSSAI) over its prolonged delay in rolling out front-of-pack warning labels, with the bench reportedly remarking that the regulator’s inaction gave the impression that it did not want citizens to remain healthy. The case, which has dragged on for more than a decade, centres on a simple demand: that packaged food carrying excess sugar, salt or saturated fat should say so clearly on the front, not bury it in a nutrition table that requires a magnifying glass and a calculator to decode.
Around the same time, in Navi Mumbai, the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration, under Commissioner uncovered what officials described as an organised racket at a facility in Turbhe. Investigators allege that expired manufacturing and use-by dates on popular snacks and beverages, including Maggi noodles, Lay’s and Kurkure, were being erased or covered with fresh stickers before the products were repacked and sent back into the market. Thousands of cartons were seized, and cases have been registered under food safety and forgery provisions.
Taken together, these two episodes point to the same underlying problem, viewed from opposite ends: one is a regulatory failure to mandate honest labelling, the other is a criminal attempt to falsify it. Both leave the ordinary consumer exposed.
Doctors argue that the stakes here go well beyond consumer inconvenience. Dr Tushar Tayal, Associate Director – Internal Medicine, points out that labels are not a bureaucratic formality but a genuine health tool. He notes that misleading claims, unclear nutritional details or tampered dates can stop people from making safe choices.
This risk is “particularly concerning for children and people living with obesity, diabetes, hypertension, fatty liver disease or cardiovascular conditions”. His advice is practical.
“Do not stop at the front of the pack. Turn it around, check the serving size, added sugar, sodium and saturated fat, and be alert to overwritten dates, oddly placed stickers or packaging that looks tampered with,” says Dr Tayal.
This is where a persistent myth needs to be broken. Many consumers assume that a single healthy-sounding word on the front of a pack tells the whole story. Dr Nidhi Malhotra, Director of Endocrinology and Diabetes, calls this the “health halo” effect.
Terms such as natural, multigrain, high-protein or immunity-boosting, she explains, can make an entire product feel virtuous even when the rest of its nutritional profile says otherwise. “A biscuit may genuinely contain fibre and still be laden with sugar and unhealthy fat,” she says.
Malhotra stresses that the product should be judged on its complete composition, not one flattering word in bold type, because that steady, unnoticed intake of sugar, salt and fat is precisely what fuels obesity, metabolic disease and heart conditions over time.
Dr Vikas Jindal, Consultant, Department of Gastroenterology, notes that misleading food labelling isn’t just a nutrition issue — it can turn into a food-safety problem the moment someone starts tampering with manufacturing dates, expiry dates, or other printed product details.
“Once that information is altered or hidden, consumers lose any real ability to judge what they’re actually buying and label tampering is just as concerning, since it can stop people from spotting substances they specifically need to avoid,” he says.
Jindal’s advice is to watch for dates and labels that look original and clearly printed, stay away from damaged or suspicious packaging, and treat any sticker placed over existing information with suspicion.
The public health cost of getting this wrong is not abstract. India already carries a heavy burden of non-communicable diseases linked to diet, and both doctors agree that transparent, simple labelling, free of jargon and impossible-to-read fine print, is essential to reversing that trend.
Until catches up, the responsibility falls back on the consumer, so make sure you read past the marketing, check the ingredient list, inspect the dates, and treat every front-of-pack claim with polite scepticism. In a market where even something as basic as an expiry date can apparently be forged, informed reading may be the only real protection shoppers have.
Nivedita is a freelance writer. She writes on health and travel.
