Indonesia Regulates Sugar, Salt, Fat in Foods and Beverages

TheIndonesia.co - The government is regulating the use of sugar, salt, and fat in foods and beverages to anticipate the risk of hypertension, stroke, diabetes, and heart attacks, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has said. People must also be educated on this matter, he added after attending a meeting with Commission IX of the House of Representatives (DPR) here on Monday.

This has been stipulated in the Health Ministerial Regulation No. 30 of 2013 on the inclusion of information on sugar, salt, and fat content and a health message for processed and instant foods.

As per the third article of the regulation, all individuals producing processed food that contains sugar, salt, and/or fat must include content information and a health message on the food label.

The products should contain the following message: "Consumption of more than 50 grams of sugar, 2,000 milligrams of natrium, or 67 grams of fat per individual per day may cause hypertension, stroke, diabetes, and heart attack.”

According to the minister, diabetes cases in Indonesia have continued to rise every year. "Last time I checked, 13 percent of the Indonesian population was suffering from diabetes— the mother of all diseases," he informed.

Over the long term, diabetes can cause kidney disease, dialysis, stroke, heart disease, and many other non-communicable diseases, he added.

Therefore, several countries, including Indonesia, are feeling the need to regulate the use of sugar, salt, and fat in food and drink products.

"In several countries, such as in Singapore, their government has tried really hard to prevent diabetes so that its prevalence or incidence declines," he said.

If the consumption of these ingredients is not regulated, five to ten years later, there will be more Indonesians suffering from derivative diseases of diabetes, Sadikin estimated.