If you’re someone who closely monitors your daily calorie intake and gets quite uncomfortable with outside food, there’s some good news for you. FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) directed Zomato, Swiggy, and dine-in restaurants to display the calorie count of every dish on the menu. Yes, the new rule requires restaurants with central licenses to list the per serving and calorie value of their food on their menu cards.. According to FSSAI, the display of calorie counts on menus is intended to promote public health.
Listing Calorie Counts On Menus Is A Must For Restaurants
In 2020, FSSAI announced a new regulation requiring restaurant chains and online food aggregators to display the calorie count of foods on their menu cards. The last date for restaurants and others to comply with these standards was January 1, 2022, but it has since been extended to July 2022. However all restaurants did not make the necessary changes. Did you know. Did you know Gujarat’s Vadodara is the cleanest street food hub in India according to FSSAI?
And according to FSSAI reports, 16 food businesses recently had their licenses revoked for failing to meet standards for labelling the number of calories in dishes on their menus. According to FSSAI, food calories, allergen information, and vegetarian/non-vegetarian food logos should also be displayed on menu cards. In 2008, New York became the first US city to mandate the display of calorie count on their menus. Since then, the UK, and UAE also made this mandatory in all their restaurants.
Note: Here’s how to find the purity of red chili powder with FSSAI tips
How Do You Determine The Calorie Value With So Many Variations In Indian Cuisine?
Analysing each Indian dish to determine the total calorie count can be difficult. However, FSSAI is not yet working on all cylinders. In fact, they have yet to finalise their guidelines on test parameters. Until then, only ‘improvement notices’ will be sent to restaurants. If you have 100 recipes for big brands, they all need to be analysed, and menus should be changed accordingly.
Also read: Junk food banned from being sold in and around of schools in India by FSSAI