Say that manufacturers should redesign labels not to display fruit images on flavoured drink packaging
ISLAMABAD:
A parliamentary panel on Monday expressed serious concern over misleading labelling and potential health risks associated with flavoured drinks, deciding that fruit images should be removed from their packaging.
The panel also decided that prominent health warnings should be introduced, and members of parliament be included as observers in the technical committee reviewing the products.
The National Assembly Standing Committee on National Food Security also recommended resubmitting the Khairpur date production project to the Ministry of Planning and held an extensive discussion on the country’s wheat policy.
The meeting, chaired by Syed Hussain Tariq and attended by Minister for National Food Security Rana Tanveer Hussain, officials from the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), the National Institute of Health (NIH), provincial authorities and other stakeholders, reviewed issues relating to flavoured drinks, date production, wheat procurement and the quality of bottled drinking water.
Briefing the committee, PSQCA officials explained that fruit juice contains 100 per cent fruit, while nectar contains at least 25 per cent fruit.
However, flavoured drinks contain no fruit at all. They informed the committee that a technical committee was considering a proposal to make it mandatory for flavoured drinks to contain between five and 10 per cent fruit.
Officials further informed lawmakers that manufacturers would no longer be allowed to display fruit images on flavoured drink packaging and that existing labels would also have to be redesigned to remove such images in order to prevent consumers from being misled.
Committee members voiced strong concern over the practice. MNA Rana Muhammad Hayat said it was unfortunate that flavoured drinks displayed images of mangoes despite containing no mango at all, adding that factories producing such products should face action, including closure.
The secretary of the Ministry of National Food Security told the committee that health warnings would be made mandatory on flavoured drinks, clearly stating that excessive consumption could be harmful to health. PSQCA officials added that labels would also warn against consumption by children under the age of 13.
The committee also held an extensive discussion on wheat policy. MNA Rana Muhammad Hayat slammed the government’s procurement policy, saying wheat was not being purchased from local farmers despite billions of rupees being spent on imports.
Rana Tanveer Hussain said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also supported fixing a wheat support price. He explained that while the Sindh government had procured wheat directly, Punjab had purchased it through a public-private partnership at Rs3,200 per maund.
The minister said he had written to the provinces proposing that, if wheat supplies were insufficient, the procurement price should be fixed at Rs3,800 per maund, but none of the provinces had responded.
