Indian community has a distinct dietary culture that symbolises its heritage and sociocultural aspects of its ethnicity. Food prepared by different ethnic groups of people is unique and distinct due to the differences in geographical location, environmental factors, food preference, and availability of plant or animal sources.
Customary beliefs, food rules and laws, religions, and social groupings are some of the characteristics contributing to the description of a culture, while ethnicity is the affiliation with a race, people, or cultural group. Religions and customary beliefs exert a strong influence on food habits, particularly through food laws such as taboos imposed on consumptions of certain food items. Majority of Indians follow the Hindu religion and its offshoots such as Jainism.
Indian foods are classified into three main categories in terms of tradition. Satvika foods containing cooked vegetables, milk, fresh fruits, and honey are easily digestible and considered superior to other categories. Liquor and meat, spices and even garlic enter the category of Tamasika foods bearing crass qualities of human behaviour.
All grains and pulses, oils and fat which give enough energy to carry out daily work are categorised as Rajsika foods. A reliance on vegetarian foods characterises Indian cuisines. Both Hinduism and Islam, the two dominant religions in India, exhort followers to refrain from eating beef and pork respectively.
The Indian food processing industry accounts for about 32 per cent of the country’s total food market, comprising the primary and value-added processed food, and is one of the largest industries in India, ranking fifth in terms of production, consumption, exports and expected growth. Consumer segments and changing trends in markets play a significant role in driving the industry on a positive note and help in shaping the demand for value-added products.
Adding to the same note there are numerous food ingredients and additives that have animal origin and are not ethnically relished by the Indian crowd. Time to time social media is flooded with posts related to ingredients and additives present in processed food products which are not acceptable as per beliefs.
The newest in the row is beef flavoured Maggi which is claimed to be against the Hindu religion. Nestle handled it in a very mature manner. The MNC informed the consumers via twitter handle stating Maggi does not contain beef or any type of beef flavour. The fake news was put to an end with the description of different variants of Maggi available in the market – Maggi “No Onion No Garlic”, Maggi “Chicken Noodles”. Nestle had taken proper care of Indian cuisine while manufacturing an array of flavours in Maggi “2-Minute Noodles”.
Earlier also people had enquired about the presence of ingredients of animal origin in the processed food products. Appy Fizz from Parle Agro had also faced the brunt of bearing pig fat, Chocolates Indian as well as imported ones are placed by some consumers in the same category. Importing gelatin-laced chocolates into a country where consumption of meat remains a queasy subject for most has long been debated. The confusion might have emerged due to the origin of the substances added directly to food products as additives, enzymes and processing aids. Many food ingredients have dual origin – could be extracted from plant as well as animal.
The key lies in the fact that all food products with a green dot are 100% vegetarian in nature. The food ingredients and additive are given INS numbers in a range from INS-100 to INS-1521 refer to antioxidants, colours, flavour enhancer, preservatives, sweeteners and so on as per the Codex Alimentarius Commission created in 1963 by FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) and WHO (World Health Organization) for universal standards and guidelines for packaged foods. The international numbers/codes for additives used on the packaging are in compliance with the Indian Food Law (Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011).
Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011, gives the directive for food labelling which requires food additives to be listed in the product ingredients whenever they are added for technological purposes. This includes colouring, sweetening and flavour enhancement as well as for preservation, thickening, emulsifying and the like. Ingredients must be listed in descending order of weight, which means that they are generally found close to the end of the list of ingredients. From the list mentioned in Food Additives Regulation some are always of animal origin.
• INS120 Cochineal : a red colour obtained from female insects
• INS 542 Edible Bone Phosphate : an extract from animal bones
•INS 904 Shellac : a resin from the lac insect
While some additives with a common code such as INS 471, INS 322 can be either of animal or plant origin and their animal origin could only be traced out by the presence of brown dot enclosed in a square.
All food additives are given International Numerical System coding. The identification number for labelling purposes usually consists of three or four digits such as 100 for Curcumins and 1001 for Chlorine salts and esters. However, in some instances the number is followed by an alphabetical subscript for example 150a identifies Caramel I-plain, 150b identifies Caramel II-caustic sulphite process, and so on.
Therefore, the numbers including any alphabetical subscripts are for use on labels. Some additives are further subdivided by numerical subscripts, such as (i), (ii), etc. For example, Curcumins are subdivided into (i) Curcumin and (ii) Turmeric. These identifications are not for labelling purposes but simply to identify sub-classes (in this case of Curcumins) which are covered by separate specifications.
(The author is sector expert [food], National Consumer Helpline, Indian Institute of Public Administration, Delhi)