DOES THE LANGUAGE USED IN LABELLING OF FOOD MATTER?

Yashasvi Sanja Perera

ASCEND Research Network Trainee cohort 2

SRI LANKA

Sri Lanka

• An Island in the Indian Ocean, off the south-eastern coast of India. It (65,610 km2) is about 0.93 times as big as Ireland (70,273km2).

• Population is about 20 million.

• The Sinhalese, make up 74.9% of the population . Tamils are 15.4%

• Official Languages: Sinhala and Tamil.

INTRODUCTION• The Asia-Pacific region is facing an epidemic of Non-

Communicable Diseases (NCDs) partly as result of changing food habits and sedentary life styles.

• Estimates suggest 2% reduction of annual deaths would save lives of 8 million people over 10 years simply through simple life style modifications.

NCDs and health related information

• Availability of health related information is a critical step to gain knowledge and subsequently to have positive health related behaviour.

• In this regards, proper labelling of food could be considered a prerequisite to provide information that is necessary for consumers to make an informed choice as regards to their consumption patterns

Labelling• Defined in the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) in

the United States of America (USA) as a written, printed, or graphic matter

(i) upon any article or any of its containers or wrappers or (ii) accompanying such article.

• Labelling is a subset of packaging. Sellers need to label their products.

• The label may be a simple tag attached to the product or an elaborately designed graphic that is a part of the package

FOOD ACT

Food (Labelling & Advertising) Regulations 2005

1. Package or container is labeled in accordance with the regulations

2. Label with two languages (with certain exceptions)

3. Label indelibly printed or painted or affixed on the main panel (Supplementary label may be affixed for imported foods)

4. (i) Main panel:a) Common Name - two languages

b) Brand/Trade Name - one or more languages(Shall not mislead the public)

c) Net contents in international symbolseg: g or kg, ml or l

Contd….

(ii) Main or any other panel – anyone or more of the three

languages

a) Food Additives by name or INS number

b) Instructions for storage/use, if any

c) Name & address of manufacturer, packer or distributor in Sri Lanka

d) Batch No. or Code No. or decipherable code marking

e) The date of expiry – exp date

f) The date of manufacture

g) Bulk imports & repacking – date of manufacture, date of repacking

h) List of ingredients in descending order

i. Country of origin for imported foodsii. Any other declarations required by regulations

Letter Sizea) Common name minimum height 3 mm and shall be not

less than 1/3 of brand name

b) When common name consisted of more than one word, the words shall be in identical type and size and similarly displayed

c) 25 g or 30 ml or less size packs – letter size shall not be less than 1.5 mm (exceptions may be allowed by Chief Food Authority for packages not exceeding 25 sq.cm.)

d) Net content & Date of Expiry letter size

Minimum Height Area1 mm Bottles closures containing aerated waters and liquid with not exceeding 1.5 mm 120 cm2

3 mm 120 – 240 cm2

6 mm 240 – 600 cm2

9 mm exceeding 600 cm2

e) Date of Expiry :Exp/Expiry/Best Before/Use Before

f) Oil Source has to be declared

g) Blended “X” Vegetable OilX – more than 75% of single constituentWhen none of the oil exceeds 75%“Blended Vegetable Oil”- Constituents shall be declared on the label

h) Use the word “butter”Sugar/Chocolate confectionery – at least 4%

Butter fat of total fatFlour confectionery – entirely of butter fat

i) Artificial ProductsEg: Artificial Vinegar Similar words in

Artificial Cordial close proximity

No pictorial representations

j) Irradiated foods should have the international logo for irradiation

Existing gap• Availability of appropriate health related information in

food labels is essential for consumers to make an informed choice as regards to their consumption patterns.

• Studies have shown that Sri Lankan consumers are receptive to labelling and are willing to pay for these items.

• However, there is a wide variation in the labelling of foods.

OBJECTIVES

• To describe the contents and language used in the labelling of foods in Sri Lanka.

• To investigate the ability of a group of potential consumers to read the contents of these labels.

METHODOLOGY

Phase 1

Food labels in 10 categories of pre-packaged foods (158 items) in main supermarket chains in the commercial capital of Sri Lanka (Colombo) and its suburbs were audited.

• A questionnaire was used to gather data from food labels of shelf items

• The items were categorized to cover the common food items available such as biscuits, cookies, chocolates, sweets, aerated drinks, fruit juices, ice cream, cereals, butter, margarine and milk-powder.

• The languages used in labelling name, ingredients and nutrition information were documented, entered into a database and analysed.

• At least 10 brands for each food item were collected.

METHODOLOGY

Phase 2

• A list of 10 common words used in the sections on ingredients and nutrition information were compiled.

• This was given to randomly selected 50 male and 50 female patients in the age group of 40-60y admitted to National Hospital of Sri Lanka with diabetes and / or ischaemic heart disease / NCDs.

RESULTS

Phase 1COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

Sri Lanka 57.6 % Country of origin not mentioned in 3.2%

COUNTRY OF PACKING

Sri Lanka 69 % (109)

Information on food item

• The name of the food item was present in all labels while 47 (29.7%) had it only in English and 64 (40.5%) in English and the two native Languages (i.e. Sinhala and Tamil).

• In 6.5% of labels contained English and other languages apart from native languages

Information on ingredients

• In 93.5% of products the ingredients were mentioned.

• The language used was only English (56.2%) and Sinhala (29.9%) in majority.

Information on nutritional compositions

• Nutrition information and calorie compositions were provided mainly in English, and Sinhala or Tamil was used in less than 10% of labels.

Information on labels

Information in label

Number of labels with the relevant information

Language used in label (% from number of labels that give the information)

English without Sinhala and Tamil

English, Sinhala and Tamil

Sinhala or Tamil with or without English

1. Ingredients 153 (96.8%)

100 (65%) 27 (17.5%) 26 (17.5%)

1. Nutrients 118 (74.4%)

85 (72.6%) 2 (1.8%) 9 (7.7%)

1. Total calorie 103 65.2%)

77 (74.8%) 1 (0.9%) 8 (7.5%)

1. Calorie distribution

76 (48.1%)

53 (69.7%) 1 (1.3%) 6 (7.9%)

1. Types of fat 46 (29.2%)

31 (67.4%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

Packages from Sri Lanka had a significantly higher chance of containing information in Sinhala or Tamil.

Information in label

Proportion with information in one or more native languages (Sinhala or Tamil) with or without English

Odds Ratio (95% CI) of labels containing Native Language when packaged in Sri Lanka, compared to abroad

Packaged in Sri Lanka ( n=109)

Packaged abroad (n=44)

1. Labels 89 8 20.03 (8.1- 49.6)

1. Ingredients 51 2 18.5 (4.3 - 80.1)

1. Nutrients 9 2 1.9 (0.4 - 9.1)

1. Total calorie 7 2 1.4 (0.3 – 7.2)

1. Calorie distribution

5 2 1.01 (0.2 - 5.4)

1. Types of fat 0 0 -

Labelling with one or more native languages ± English

RESULTS

Phase 2

• Mean age- 51.4y, male:female- 1:1 , 36% on special diets.

• Almost a third of adults were not able to read a single word of English commonly used in packages.

Results phase 2…

• The nutritional information on food items in native language was vital for their purchasing decisions in 76%.

• Seventy two per cent of them were willing to pay for nutritional labelling in their native languages.

30

62

8

Habit of reading the labels prior to purchase

always sometimes never

DISCUSSION

• Food labels in Sri Lanka provide scant information in native languages of Sinhala and Tamil.

• A majority of patients accessing a premier hospital in the capital were unable to read the common contents given in label.

Conclusions

• Language compatibility of food labels to consumer needs in Sri Lanka is poor.

• It is mandatory to have information in Sinhala and Tamil and reverse the discrimination of persons who are unable to read English

• These areas need urgent attention in national legislative instruments and in international food policy agreements because of the rapid increase in cross border trade of food items.

Acknowledgements

• Supported by the ASCEND Program (www.med.monash.edu.au/ascend) funded by the Fogarty International Centre, National Institutes of Health, under Award Number: D43TW008332. • The contents of this [poster/booklet/publication/presentation]

is solely the responsibility of the author(s) and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the ASCEND Program.

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