Source: PIB, FSSAI
To improve public health in India and combat negative nutritional trends to fight lifestyle diseases, FSSAI launched ‘The Eat Right Movement’ in 2018.
About Eat Right India’ programme
- Eat Right India’, built on two broad pillars of ‘Eat Healthy’ and ‘Eat Safe’, aims to engage, excite and enable citizens to improve their health and well being.
- The Eat Healthy pillar of the movement is about nudging citizens to make healthy food choices and building healthy food habits. It encourages them to choose nutritious and fortified foods in the right proportion and limit foods that are high in salt, sugar, and fat. It also stresses upon the importance of physical and mental wellbeing.
- The Eat Safe pillar is about ensuring food safety to prevent foodborne diseases. It includes maintaining hygiene and sanitation, both personal, and environmental, proper waste disposal, following safe food practices and combating adulteration
- The food industry, public health professionals, civil society and consumer organizations, influencers and celebrities came together on a common platform and pledged to take concrete steps to amplify ‘The Eat Right Movement’ in the country.
- The strength of the ‘The Eat Right Movement’ lies in its holistic and collaborative approach, with stakeholders on both the demand and supply-side joining to make a difference through some clearly identified steps;
- On the demand side, the Eat Right Movement focuses on empowering citizens to make the right food choices.
- On the supply side, it nudges food businesses to reformulate their products, provide better nutritional information to consumers and make investments in healthy food as responsible food businesses.
- ‘The Eat Right Movement’ brings together three ongoing initiatives of FSSAI:
- Safe and Nutritious Food Initiative focused on social and behavioural change around food safety and nutrition at home, school, workplace, and on-the-go;
- The Eat Healthy Campaign focused on the reduction of high fat, sugar and salt foods in the diet; and
- Food Fortification focused on promoting five staple foods-wheat flour, rice, oil, milk and salt that are added with key vitamins and minerals to improve their nutritional content
