Most TV ads take consumers for a ride

By Manjula Fernando

Why waste time on painstaking nutritious home recipes when we could make our children stronger, healthier and brainier by just stuffing them with ‘child -friendly’ instant and fortified food that swarm you as you turn on the TV. The advertisements promise you the impossible; a healthy stomach and a healthy child, energy to last a lifetime, an osteoporosis free life and an infant with the biggest brain who could count before he learns to walk.

Celebrities play a major role in ads

Never mind that calcium deprivation is just one of many causes of osteoporosis and the micro-ingredients that work miracles in your baby’s brain seem to have just sprung up out from nowhere.

These are all too appealing and convincing that there cannot be a single individual who had been spared or had not fallen prey to their disinformation campaign.

And any parent would vouch that their children are ready for a ‘duel’ to get their hands on a dish of instant noodle while mothers (or fathers) have to virtually beg them or bribe them to gulp down a nutritious home cooked meal.

The easy way

There are claims that some of these instant varieties carry carcinogens (cancer causing ingredients). But no official authority has proven this allegation so far. So while meticulous parents skip over these mouth watering and less painstaking instant food, a majority of others resort to the easy way. Which is of course alarming, given the fact that most of our future generation has already become addicts.

Following the news that the Health Ministry would clamp down on these misleading advertisements, the Sunday Observer spoke to the authority responsible for the new piece of legislation that is currently in the pipeline.

The new law is expected to check the advertisers before they televise, print or air the damaging advertisements so that people will not be misled into buying a product that has no proven effect of better performance.

“The idea is to give the right of an informed choice to the consumer,” former Director Environmental, Occupational and Food Safety Unit of the Health Ministry Dr. C.K. Shanmugarajah said.

“In keeping with the current practice under the Food (Labelling and Advertising) Regulations Act which governs the labelling and advertising, the authorities can only take action once the advertisement is aired. We have to first convince the manufacturer to revise the ad or seek verifications with laboratory tests that the particular product does have the effects that is claimed. Once an assessment by the technical committees of the Food Advisory Committee proves the claim is not accurate, legal action can be taken if the party does not take action to revise the relevant ad.

Wrong message

“This is fairly a lengthy process and by the time the ad is finally stopped the damage has already been done - they have succeeded in conveying the wrong message to the consumers.”

Dr. Shanmugarajah, a consultant to the Health Ministry is working with a team of experts to formulate the new laws that will force manufacturers of certain food items to register their products with the Health Ministry’s Food Control Administration Unit (FCAU).

Colour 	Common 			Colour 	INS 
	name 			index 	number 
Red 	Carmosine 		14720 	122 
	Ponceau4R 		16255 	124 
	Erythroseine 		45430 	127 
Yellow 	Sunset yellow FCF 		15985 	110 
	Tartrazine 		19140 	102 
Blue 	Indigo Carmine 		73015 	132 
	(Indigotine) 
	Brilliant Blue FCF 	42090 	133 
Green 	Green S 			44090 	142

These specially categorised items cannot be advertised without prior approval. The advertisements have to be screened and sanctioned by the FCAU before it reaches the media.

“This would be ‘prevention before correction’. When we spot a wrongdoing we correct it. In future we will not let that happen,” Dr.Shanmugarajah said. The new law tentatively called ‘Registration of Food Products Regulation’ will cover frequently consumed varieties and food brands targeting vulnerable groups such as infants, children and pregnant and lactating mothers, such as milk powder and fortified items.

“We have not yet finalised the list of items to be classified under the new law. It is still being discussed and the plan is to start with a short list and expand as we go.”

Consumer representatives, professional bodies, trade and industry representatives are taking part in the discussions to draft the regulation.

Once it is done the draft will be sent to the legal draughtsman. “We may be able to present the new law within a few months.”

When the new law is in place, existing products and new arrivals should be registered with the Food Unit and if the agreement or the license is breached the Chief Food Authority - Director General of Health Services can cancel the licence. The producer will have to stop manufacturing, distributing and selling the product immediately.

“This will increase the degree of accountability of the producers towards the consumer,” Dr. Shanmugarajah said adding that their intention was to motivate self-regulation.

Strict measures

“We are responsible for maintaining safety, standards and labelling (ensure whether the product label gives the correct information) of food items.

The recent adverse developments detected in the advertising field and serious violations of ethics have compelled us to resort to strict measures to protect the consumer.”

He said they were discussing with several producers in the dairy business who reach consumers through children’s advertisements to revise their ads since they have violated the law by projecting false claims on nutritional values.

There have been many court cases against such violators in the past but the existing system is far from satisfactory.

“Although the 2005 Act is fairly comprehensive, the law does not govern how an advertisement should be put together.

This is a shortcoming that prevents us from taking action against advertisers or resort to the fairly tedious process which delays results.”

Additional Director Food Control and Administration Unit A.B.S. Silva said that in Sri Lanka consumer associations were largely defunct.

“We have never received any complaints on misleading food ads from consumers. When we go to courts against such cases the consumer’s presence is very vital in convincing the Magistrates for a favourable ruling.”

Asked about the safety concerns on instant food packs especially noodles and soup varieties in the market, that they may contain cancer causing elements, Dr.Shanmugarajah said all food items that are available in the market must pass the international food safety standards.

“All imported food items are sample tested by the Food Inspectors liaising with Customs Department before being released to the market.We are using the Codex Alimentarius Standard, which is recognized internationally and also by the UN.”

Safety levels

All preserved and artificial food products carry additives and chemicals. But the products that come to the market have to conform to the stipulated safety levels. Our responsibility is to ensure that.

“We cannot deprive the consumer’s right of choice. We cannot totally ban a food product because there are vague claims and concerns unless it is scientifically proven that such a product is harmful to human consumption,” he stressed. In that case the consumer should be vigilant and avoid buying the product. This is why we have made it compulsory to label Genetically Modified (GM) food items.

There are two schools of thought, some claim that it is harmful for human consumption and may have long term health effects while others refute this allegation.

We have given the right of choice to the consumer by enforcing proper labelling and we are now trying to clamp down on misleading product advertisements.