Labelling completeness and sodium content of packaged foods in India

To estimate the proportion of products meeting Indian government labelling regulations and to examine the Na levels in packaged foods sold in India.

Nutritional composition data were collected from the labels of all packaged food products sold at Indian supermarkets in between 2012 and 2014. Proportions of products compliant with the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) regulations and labelled with Na content, and mean Na levels were calculated. Comparisons were made against 2010 data from Hyderabad and against the UK Department of Health (DoH) 2017 Na targets.

Eleven large chain retail stores in Delhi and Hyderabad, India.

Packaged food products (n 5686) categorised into fourteen food groups, thirty-three food categories and ninety sub-categories.

More packaged food products (43 v. 34 %; P<0·001) were compliant with FSSAI regulations but less (32 v. 38 %; P<0·001) reported Na values compared with 2010. Food groups with the highest Na content were sauces and spreads (2217 mg/100 g) and convenience foods (1344 mg/100 g). Mean Na content in 2014 was higher in four food groups compared with 2010 and lower in none (P<0·05). Only 27 % of foods in sub-categories for which there are UK DoH benchmarks had Na levels below the targets.

Compliance with nutrient labelling in India is improving but remains low. Many packaged food products have high levels of Na and there is no evidence that Indian packaged foods are becoming less salty.