Sameera Mahomedy

South Africa’s national health department recently invited public comment on regulations for warning labels on food packaging. The regulations specify how pre-packaged food should be labelled. Broadly speaking, “front-of-pack” labels provide information about the overall nutritional quality of foods and beverages.

The aim is to allow consumers to make healthier food choices. The proposed rule is that food products containing added saturated fat, added sugar, or added sodium, and Globally there’s been an increase in the availability and consumption of unhealthy food. This has contributed to bad health outcomes, including a rise in overweight and obesity.

Unhealthy diet is a major risk factor for noncommunicable diseases such as heart attacks, cancers and diabetes. People who are overweight or obese are at greater risk of developing these conditions.

The figures in South Africa are especially worrying. Half of all adults are either overweight (23%) or obese (27%). Noncommunicable diseases