UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — India has to act on its ‘sugar’ problem
Q1. In the front-of-pack labelling scheme placed by FSSAI before the Supreme Court in 2026, a packaged food attracts the red warning mark in the first phase of rollout if it crosses the prescribed threshold for how many of the specified nutrients of concern?
- A. Any one of the three specified nutrients of concern
- B. Any two or more of the three specified nutrients of concern
- C. All three of the specified nutrients of concern, without exception
- D. Any two or more of the five specified nutrients of concern
Q2. With reference to the front-of-pack labelling proposal submitted by FSSAI in 2026 as compared with its earlier labelling attempts, consider the following statements:
1. The 2026 proposal shifts the key nutrient warning from fine-print disclosure on the back of the pack to a mark displayed on the front of the pack.
2. Whereas the earlier FSSAI draft had proposed red colour-coding of individual nutrient values, the 2026 proposal uses a single red hexagonal warning mark.
3. The nutrient thresholds adopted in the 2026 proposal are drawn from Codex Alimentarius standards rather than from any national dietary guideline.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- The 2026 proposal shifts the key nutrient warning from fine-print disclosure on the back of the pack to a mark displayed on the front of the pack.
- Whereas the earlier FSSAI draft had proposed red colour-coding of individual nutrient values, the 2026 proposal uses a single red hexagonal warning mark.
- The nutrient thresholds adopted in the 2026 proposal are drawn from Codex Alimentarius standards rather than from any national dietary guideline.
- A. 1 and 2 only
- B. 2 and 3 only
- C. 1 and 3 only
- D. 1, 2 and 3
Q3. Among the categories of members constituting the Food Authority under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, which one of the following categories is allotted the largest number of seats?
- A. Representatives of Ministries or Departments of the Central Government dealing with subjects related to food
- B. Members representing the States and the Union Territories, appointed on a rotation basis
- C. Eminent food technologists or scientists nominated for their professional standing
- D. Representatives nominated from the food industry and from retailers' organisations
Q4. With reference to the composition of the Food Authority under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, consider the following categories of representation:
1. Farmers' organisations
2. Retailers' organisations
3. Consumer organisations
4. Trade unions of food processing workers
Which of the above is/are correctly identified as categories represented among the members of the Food Authority?
- Farmers' organisations
- Retailers' organisations
- Consumer organisations
- Trade unions of food processing workers
- A. 1 and 3 only
- B. 2 and 4
- C. 1, 2 and 3
- D. 3 and 4
Q5. Under the draft Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Amendment Regulations announced in June 2019, red colour-coding on account of sugar was to be triggered where the added sugar in a packaged product exceeded which one of the following?
- A. Ten per cent of the total energy in kilocalories provided by 100 g or 100 ml of the product
- B. Ten grams of added sugar contained in 100 g or 100 ml of the product as sold
- C. Ten per cent of the total weight of 100 g or 100 ml of the product as sold
- D. Twenty-five grams of added sugar per recommended daily serving of the product
Q6. The Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations are framed and enforced by a statutory authority that functions under the administrative control of which one of the following ministries?
- A. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
- B. Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
- C. Ministry of Food Processing Industries
- D. Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
Q7. Consider the following statements regarding the World Obesity Atlas 2026:
1. It is brought out by the World Obesity Federation and was released around World Obesity Day in March 2026.
2. It places India second in the world in the number of children living with overweight and obesity.
3. Its projection that at least 120 million school-age children globally could show early signs of chronic disease is made for the year 2030.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- It is brought out by the World Obesity Federation and was released around World Obesity Day in March 2026.
- It places India second in the world in the number of children living with overweight and obesity.
- Its projection that at least 120 million school-age children globally could show early signs of chronic disease is made for the year 2030.
- A. 1 only
- B. 1 and 2 only
- C. 2 and 3 only
- D. 1, 2 and 3
Q8. The World Obesity Atlas 2026 reports a figure of 74 per cent for Indian adolescents in the 11–17 age group. This proportion measures adolescents who:
- A. fail to meet the recommended levels of physical activity for their age group
- B. consume at least one sugar-sweetened beverage on a typical day of the week
- C. do not receive any meal through a school feeding programme during term time
- D. report skipping breakfast on most days in a usual school week
Q9. Which one of the following countries was the first in the world to make front-of-pack 'high in' warning labels mandatory on packaged foods?
- A. Chile
- B. Mexico
- C. Peru
- D. Israel
Q10. With reference to the United Kingdom's 'traffic light' front-of-pack nutrition labelling scheme, which one of the following statements is correct?
- A. It is a voluntary scheme that colour-codes fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt as red, amber or green alongside reference intakes
- B. It is a mandatory scheme applying without exception to every packaged food and beverage sold anywhere in the country
- C. It is a mandatory scheme that assigns each product a single summary grade on a five-letter scale from A to E
- D. It is a voluntary scheme that places a black octagonal 'high in' warning on all products crossing the sodium limit
Q11. The 2024 controversy over hidden sugar in cereal-based infant foods sold in India turned on the regulatory ceiling then cited by FSSAI for added sugars in such products. That ceiling was expressed as:
- A. 13.6 grams of added sugar per 100 grams of the product
- B. 3 grams of added sugar per recommended serving of the product
- C. an absolute prohibition on added sugars in every cereal-based food for infants
- D. 10 per cent of the total energy in kilocalories provided by 100 grams of the product
Q12. The recommendation that daily sugar intake be limited to 25 grams, now used as a reference point in India's debate over packaged foods, was issued in 2024 through the Dietary Guidelines for Indians by:
- A. the National Institute of Nutrition, functioning under the Indian Council of Medical Research
- B. the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, functioning under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
- C. the National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management, under the Ministry of Food Processing Industries
- D. the nutrition vertical of NITI Aayog, operating through the POSHAN Abhiyaan framework