HIGHER TAXATION ON ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS SHOULD BE INTRODUCED, SAYS DOC

ULTRA processed foods (UPFs) like energy drinks, sweetened beverages, noodles, biscuits, chips, cereals, cakes, pastries, pizzas, burgers, baby food formulas, etc are associated with an increased risk of multiple chronic diseases, says Dr Arun Gupta, convenor of Nutrition Advocacy for Public Interest (NAPi), a think tank on nutrition, and former member, PM’s Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges.

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In an interview with Kavita Bajeli-Datt, the coauthor of the Lancet series says India needs to move fast on UPF definition and regulation by putting it on a high priority for national health issues. Edited excerpts:

What exactly are UPFs?

Ultra processed foods (UPFs) are commercial food products, industrial formulations, created largely from substances extracted from real foods such as starch, oils and protein isolates, and combined with cosmetic additives such as colours, flavours, sweeteners and emulsifiers. These cannot be cooked at home. These are aggressively marketed to displace real foods.

How is ultra-processing different from traditional food processing?