Citizens' Forum Demands Clear Information from Nutri-Level Labelling
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Citizens’ City Forum (FAKTA), Azas Tigor Nainggolan, has called for Nutri-Level labelling to provide practical and clear information to the public about healthy foods, drinks, and meals.
“Labelling is a means for the public to know whether the food and drinks they consume are healthy and not harmful to them,” said Azas in Jakarta on Tuesday, in response to the Ministry of Health’s decision to implement Nutri-Level labelling on processed food and drink products.
According to him, Ministerial Decree 2026 regulates the provisions for including Nutri-Level on the front-of-pack nutritional labelling of processed and ready-to-eat foods and drinks.
He explained that Nutri-Level labelling uses images of letters A, B, C, and D with colours indicating the level of sugar, salt, and fat (GGL) content.
From the Ministry of Health’s explanation, Level A with dark green colour means lower GGL content. Level B with light green colour means low GGL content. Level C with yellow colour means it should be consumed wisely. And Level D with red colour means it should be limited according to needs or health conditions.
He added that Nutri-Level labelling must not only be easy to read but also provide accurate information about whether foods and drinks at levels A, B, C, and D are healthy or not.
Azas views that Nutri-Level labelling is actually intended to confuse and mislead consumers because there is no standard maximum limit for GGL content. The standard maximum limit for GGL content in monitoring circulated foods and drinks is regulated in Article 195 of Government Regulation 28 of 2024.
Therefore, FAKTA Indonesia requests the use of warning label or warning label method, namely labels that explicitly inform unhealthy and harmful foods and drinks on the front packaging label with a black-coloured sign stating “High Sugar” or “High Salt” and/or “High Fat”.
“The choice of explicit labelling with warning labels is clearer and more effective for the public as consumers of processed ready-to-eat or packaged food products to obtain accurate information,” he said.
Previously, the Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) collaborated with industry to educate the public about healthy food choices through the nutritional labelling or Nutri-Level policy, as an effort to prevent non-communicable diseases, especially diabetes.
Director of Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (P2PTM) at Kemenkes, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, said in Jakarta on Friday that among the risk factors for non-communicable diseases, one is lifestyle, including consumption patterns. According to the 2023 Indonesian Health Survey (SKI), consumption of sugary drinks exceeding limits continues to increase.
Therefore, she said, in the initial stage of Nutri-Level education for business actors and the public, sugar is the main focus of the labelling. The products initially focused on are ready-to-eat foods and drinks, because for packaged foods and drinks, the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM) is still preparing its regulations.