Indonesia will require food and beverage companies to apply colour-graded labels for products high in salt, sugar, and fat in two years in a bid to combat obesity and other health risks.
- In a ministerial decree issued on Tuesday, Indonesia introduced a traffic-light “nutri-level” system, with red labels for products high in fat, salt, and sugar, and green labels for those with lower levels.
- Companies may voluntarily place color-coded stickers on their products based on results from government laboratory testing, according to the decree.
- The rules will become mandatory within two years, although no penalties for non-compliance were specified.
- Labels will also be required on menus at outlets that sell ready-made food items.
- More than 40 countries have adopted similar systems, either voluntary or mandatory, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2023, with Singapore also implementing a comparable approach.
- Health ministry data shows that obesity rates in Indonesia have doubled over the decade leading up to 2023. The country, with a population of around 280 million, is the world’s fourth most populous nation.
- UNICEF has warned that one in three adults and one in five school-age children are at risk of obesity.
- The decree follows lobbying efforts by the United States and domestic manufacturers, who had urged President Prabowo Subianto to reconsider the policy, as reported last year.
