Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Neither Lovin’ it nor is it Sogood


The organized quick service restaurants (QSR) market of India is believed to be worth USD 1 billion. A news report in The Business Standard quotes a CRISIL research from 2013, which puts the share of international brands like McDonalds, Subway, Dominos Pizza and Yum Brands (owning KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands) at 63%. The same report predicts that the QSR market will swell to USD 8 billion by 2020. No wonder Burger King opened its restaurants in India last month. Fast food has made deep inroads in India, like it has everywhere else. Clever marketing, aggressive pricing, uniform products across stores and ignorance have all worked in their favour.


Catch them young and make them fat
At a billion dollars and potential to grow eight folds in next five year, the QSR business looks an attractive proposition. The business they generate and employment they create for a country like India can never be matched by any Indian restaurant chain. So should we welcome them or should we exercise caution? The answer is, both. The caution should get more weight, however. World over the QSR have pushed countries into chronic diseases like obesity, hypertension and diabetes. A recent World Health Organisation study has highlighted the correlation between average number of fast food transactions per capita and an increase in average Body Mass Index (a measure of obesity). A BMI of 25 is considered overweight and anything above 30 is considered obese). The authors of the study found that while the average number of annual fast food transactions per capita increased from 26.61 to 32.76, average BMI increased from 25.8 to 26.4. Thus, each 1-unit increase in the average number of annual fast food transactions per capita was associated with an increase of 0.0329 in BMI over the study period.

A look at the calorie count of some of the popular meal combinations offered by different QSR will give a better picture.
 
Meal combination
Total Kilo Calories (% of daily requirement*)
Total Sodium, mg (% of daily requirement*)
Masala Veg burger (1) + Fries (1, regular) + Chocolate Shake (1, regular)
843 (30.8)
1150 (54.9)
McChicken burger (1) + Chicken McNuggets (4) + Chocolate Shake (1, regular)
783 (28.6)
1280 (61.1)
Chicken Zinger Burger (1) + Fries (1, regular) +Strawberry Storm (1)
 
1066 (43.5)
1080 (51.6)
Paneer Zinger Burger (1) + Fries (1, regular) +Strawberry Storm (1)
 
1190 (39)
1080 (51.6)
*http://icmr.nic.in/final/RDA-2010.pdf

 The above table gives an estimate of the amount of calories consumed in an average meal combination. The consumption ranges from 28% to a staggering 43.5% of the daily requirement. An important thing to consider would be the eating habits in India. A burger may not always end up being a meal in itself. Often it is a quick snack, which will be supplemented by a full meal at a later time. This eventually leads to overeating, i.e. more calories. Another important consideration is the sodium intake. The table shows that the average sodium content in a meal combination ranges between 51% - 61% of the daily requirement. These are extremely high levels, given an individual will take at least two more meals (assuming three meals a day). High sodium levels are directly responsible to hypertension, which in turn might lead to other complications.

World over there are many controversies surrounding the business models of multinational QSR, their exploitation of farmers by forcing them to produce what the MNCs want and not paying them a fair price for their goods. The internet is full of stories how these restaurants pay low wages to their employees and force them to adopt dangerous driving practices to meet the delivery time deadlines. All this is important to discuss but can be left for another day in another post. The most dangerous aspect of such organized QSR chains are the adverse impact they have on health of their consumers, especially children and young adults.

Many developed countries have started enforcing calorie displays for every item on the menu. Some activist groups even want the total calories to be displayed in the invoice along with the total purchase amount. The more extreme types want pictures of obese people on the packaging (similar to the gory pictures used on tobacco products). Indian Affair thinks it is time that the Indian government woke up to the new age health challenges people are facing. An evolving mechanism to regulate food industry has to be worked out to inform people on what they are eating. A good start will be prominent display of total calories, total fat and sodium content as a percentage of daily requirement on the menu.

The Ministry of Health should aim to curb the QSRs directly marketing their products to children below a certain age. The very concept of the “happy meal”, which is tailored to attract children (with a free plastic toy) should be banned. Ten year olds are in no position to decide what is good for them and end up forcing their parents to buy them unhealthy food. What India needs is a gradual process, which regulates not just the QSR industry but other organized food businesses like carbonated drinks, sweets and chocolates and processed food. Until that happens Burger King can sell its Whoppers without a care for people’s health.