Can Indonesia’s front-of-pack nutrition labels help fight rising obesity?

But experts said the labels were only a first step and would do little on their own to slow Indonesia’s growing burden of obesity, diabetes, hypertension and other diet-related diseases.

A decree issued by the health ministry on April 14 requires ready-to-eat food and drink products to carry nutrition labels and health messages on the front of their packaging, as well as on menus, brochures, flyers, food-delivery applications and other promotional materials.

The initiative will initially apply to large-scale drink producers on a voluntary basis before expanding to food categories and becoming mandatory in two years.

Indonesia has chosen a “nutri-level” system similar to Singapore’s Nutri-Grade model, with products graded A, B, C or D.

Green A and B labels indicate products low in sugar, salt and fat, while a red D label signals products high in sugar and saturated fat.