A new panel under the Indian Government has suggested a ban on the sale of junk foods in and around schools.
Formed by the Indian Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD), the committee submitted its report last week in which it defined junk food as 'any food or drink, packaged or non packaged, which contain low amounts of proteins, vitamins, phytochemicals, minerals and dietary fibres but are rich in saturated fatty acids, salt and sugar and high in calories that are known to have negative impact on health if consumed regularly or in high amounts,' reports The Hindustan Times.
The panel has recommended banning 12 products, including chips, soft drinks, instant noodles, pizzas, burgers, cakes, biscuits and sweetmeat in school canteens across the country.
It has also proposed stationing street vendors at least 200m away during school hours, in a move to curb rising cases of obesity in India.
Shops and restaurants located within 200m of a school will be prohibited from selling the banned items to children in school uniforms.
The panel reached its conclusion after reviewing practices of regulation of junk food in 23 countries across the world.
It has proposed replacing the banned items with Indian food products such as pulao, rice, dal, halwa, kadhi chawal, rajma, khichdi, payasam, idli, vada, sambhar, coconut, shikanji and jaljeera.
The country currently does not have any regulation regarding banning jink food items in schools.
The Hindustan Times quoted a WCD official as saying: "Being the nodal ministry looking after interest of children, we had set up this panel. We will give the report to the human resource development ministry, which will take a call on its implementation."
