The next time you reach for a packet of multigrain biscuits a bottle of ‘no added sugar’ fruit juice or a box of high-protein breakfast cereal take a moment to turn it over and examine the ingredients list. What you’ll often find is a stark contrast between the bold promises on the front and the reality listed on the back.
This isn’t an accident; it’s a carefully crafted strategy. The front of the pack is designed to be a billboard not a source of information. Brands invest heavily in eye-catching designs and enticing health claims, while the actual nutritional information is tucked away in small print on the back, often using complex terminology that’s difficult to decipher.
The Illusion of Health on the Front of the Pack
Walk through any supermarket in India, and you’ll be greeted by a wall of health claims—NaturalPureImmunity BoostingZero Trans FatMade with Real FruitNo Artificial Colours. These phrases are crafted to feel like facts, but they’re often unregulated, selectively true, or outright misleading.
For instance, ‘no added sugar’ doesn’t mean the product is low in sugar—it could be naturally high in it. ‘Made with real fruit’ can legally mean a fraction of a percent of fruit concentrate. ‘Natural flavours’ is a catch-all phrase that can include a wide range of additives. And ‘multigrain’ sounds virtuous but says nothing about fiber content, glycemic index, or how refined those grains are.
Brands spend enormous amounts of money on front-of-pack design and claims. The font is large, the colors are warm, and the health messages are carefully constructed. The back of the pack, where the actual information lives, is designed to be ignored. Small font, dense text, and unfamiliar terminology make it difficult for most people to decode, even if they try.
The Hidden Truths on the Back of the Pack
The ingredients list is one of the most information-dense and deliberately obscured sections of any food product. Here’s what most people don’t know:
Ingredients Are Listed by Quantity
Ingredients are listed in descending order of quantity. Whatever appears first is present in the largest amount. So when a ‘protein bar’ lists sugar, glucose syrup, and refined flour before any protein source, the front-of-pack claim starts to look very different.
Sugar Hides Behind Many Names
Sugar can hide behind dozens of names—maltosedextrosefructosecorn syrupinvert syrupbarley maltcane juice crystalsevaporated cane juice. Brands frequently use multiple forms of sugar in a single product so that no single form appears too high on the ingredients list. The cumulative sugar content may be significant, but each name sits comfortably in the middle of the list.
Vague Oil Descriptions
Edible vegetable oil is not informative. Which oil? In what quantity? Processed how? The vagueness is intentional. Palm oil partially hydrogenated oils, and other cheaper fats frequently hide behind this phrase.
Preservatives and Additives
Preservatives and additives use code numbers such as INS 211INS 102 and INS 110 that are meaningless to the average consumer. Some are considered safe, while others have associated health concerns. Most people have no way of knowing the difference without significant research.
The back of the pack is technically compliant with regulation. It is also designed to be unreadable.
The Power of Nutri-Score and Why Brands Fear It
When I was living in France, I picked up a bag of chips in Carrefour. The Nutri-Score label on the front graded it a firm ‘C’. My healthy-eating instincts kicked in, and I placed it back on the shelf without a second thought. That single letter did what pages of nutritional information rarely do—it changed my behavior in real time.
Nutri-Score is a front-of-pack nutritional grading system used across several European countries, backed by government initiative. It rates products from A (most nutritious) to E (least nutritious) based on a formula that accounts for beneficial nutrients like fiber and protein alongside concerning ones like sugar, sodium, and saturated fat. The grade is large, colorful, and impossible to miss.
It is also, for many food companies, a nightmare. Because Nutri-Score does not care about your marketing claims. A product graded D or E cannot hide behind ‘natural flavours’ or a celebrity endorsement. The grade sits right there on the front, contradicting everything the branding is trying to say.
And here’s what’s telling—in countries where Nutri-Score or similar systems have been introduced or proposed, food industry lobbying against them has been fierce and well-funded. Companies do not oppose transparency systems because they are inaccurate. They oppose them because they are too accurate.
If India introduced a mandatory front-of-pack grading system tomorrow, a significant number of products currently marketed as healthy would receive D or E grades. Brands know this. Consumers do not.
The business tension is real—a transparent grading system would be commercially damaging to products built on misleading health halos. But that commercial damage is precisely the point. It would force reformulation. It would reward genuinely nutritious brands. It would shift competition from marketing spend to actual product quality.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has discussed front-of-pack labeling reforms for years. Progress has been slow. The food industry is a powerful lobby. And in the absence of regulation, the burden falls entirely on the consumer, which is deeply unfair.
The Fight for Transparency: Food Pharmer’s Impact
In 2026, a nutritionist and content creator named Revant Himatsingha known as Food Pharmer posted a video examining the sugar content of Bournvita one of India’s most beloved health drink brands marketed heavily to children. The video went viral. Parents were shocked. Mondelez, Bournvita’s parent company, initially responded by sending a legal notice, but the backlash was so swift and loud that the sugar content per serving was quietly reduced.
This was not an isolated incident. Food Pharmer has systematically examined products across categories—protein barsfruit juicesbreakfast cereals and more. His work has highlighted the discrepancies between marketing claims and actual nutritional content, sparking a movement for greater transparency and accountability in the food industry.
As consumers become more aware of these tactics, the demand for clearer, more honest labeling is growing. The fight for transparency is far from over, but every small step brings us closer to a future where the food we eat is as healthy as it claims to be.
