Ignore the Front, Read the Back
The front of a package is marketing. It's designed to make you feel good about your purchase with words like 'healthy', 'natural', or 'high protein'. The real, legally required information is on the back. According to the Food Safety and Standards Authority
of India (FSSAI), all packaged foods must list their ingredients and nutritional information. This is where you'll find the truth, and it's the first place you should look to make an informed choice.
Check the Serving Size First
This is perhaps the most common trick used on labels. A brand might list the calories, sugar, and fat for a serving size of just 25g or 30g, even if the packet contains 100g and most people would eat it all in one go. Before you look at any other number, check the serving size. If you know you'll eat the whole bag, multiply all the nutritional values by the number of servings in the pack to understand what you're actually consuming. This step alone can reveal a seemingly healthy snack to be a calorie and sugar bomb.
Read the First Three Ingredients
FSSAI mandates that all ingredients be listed in descending order by weight. This is the most powerful tool you have. The first two or three ingredients make up the bulk of the product. If sugar (or one of its many aliases), refined flour (maida), or palm oil is listed first, that's what you're mostly eating, regardless of the 'multigrain' or 'healthy' claims on the front. A short list of recognisable ingredients is always a better sign.
Hunt for Hidden Sugars
Sugar is rarely just listed as 'sugar'. Food companies use over 50 different names to disguise it, often splitting it into several types so that none of them appears first on the ingredient list. Look for words like high-fructose corn syrup, dextrose, maltodextrin, maltose, rice syrup, invert sugar, and fruit juice concentrate. Even 'healthy' sounding sugars like jaggery, honey, or agave nectar act as added sugar in your body. To get a true sense, look at the 'Total Sugars' line in the nutrition panel per 100g. As a general rule, anything over 22g of sugar per 100g is considered high.
Assess the Sodium and Fat Content
Sodium, or salt, is a major contributor to high blood pressure, and it's abundant in packaged snacks. The daily recommended intake is around 2,000mg of sodium (about 5g of salt). Many Indian snacks can contain 300-600mg per serving, which quickly adds up. For fat, the crucial part is differentiating between types. Look for and limit saturated fat and trans fat. A product can claim '0g trans fat' but still contain it if it lists 'partially hydrogenated oils' or 'vanaspati' in the ingredients.
Don't Be Fooled by Marketing Buzzwords
Many claims on the front of packaging are legally vague or unregulated. 'Natural' has no official FSSAI definition and can be misleading. 'Multigrain' simply means more than one type of grain is used; they could all be refined. Look for the term '100% Whole Grain' instead. 'Baked not fried' sounds healthier, but the product can still be high in fat and calories. Similarly, 'No added sugar' doesn't mean a product is sugar-free; it can still be high in naturally occurring sugars from fruit concentrates. Always verify these claims by checking the ingredient list and nutrition panel.
