NatFirst, a Hyderabad-based packaged food data infrastructure startup and parent company of TruthIn, has released findings from what it describes as India’s largest AI-assisted packaged food label analysis, highlighting widespread use of palm oil, artificial additives, excess sugar and high sodium content across major food categories.

The large-scale initiative analysed more than 23,000 packaged food products using over one lakh scanned product images across more than 25 categories and seven core food and beverage segments. According to the company, the analysis was powered by AI-assisted data extraction and structured food label intelligence aimed at improving nutrition transparency for consumers and policymakers.

The findings reveal that over 80 per cent of packaged biscuits and cookies in India contain palm oil and artificial flavours. The study also found that 60–70 per cent of sweetened breakfast products contain artificial additives, while nearly 80 per cent of chocolates and desserts exceed added sugar thresholds and are high in saturated fat.

In the beverages segment, the analysis showed that 78 per cent of ready-to-drink dairy beverages are high in added sugar, and 98 per cent of carbonated drinks contain artificial additives. Additionally, 90 per cent of convenience meals were found to be high in sodium, with 96 per cent containing artificial additives.

According to Ravi Teja Putrevu, the initiative represents an effort to build scalable data infrastructure for India’s packaged food ecosystem.

“For the first time in India, we’ve built a structured, scalable data-driven analysis decoding what’s actually in Indian packaged food,” said Putrevu. “We’re driven by the core belief that nutrition transparency should be accessible to all.”

The company stated that the project analysed food label data collected between January 2024 and November 2025 from more than 1.3 million consumer-initiated product label scans, covering a growing library of over 60,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs).

Dr Aman Sheikh Basheer noted that many products identified in the report are consumed daily and are often marketed as healthy options despite containing high levels of HFSS (high fat, sugar and salt) ingredients and artificial additives.

The TruthIn platform applies a weighted food rating model based on category-specific nutrition, ingredient quality and processing levels, using standards aligned with FSSAI, ICMR-NIN and WHO guidelines.

The report comes amid growing concerns around ultra-processed foods and rising obesity rates in India. The recent Economic Survey 2025–26 also highlighted the increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods and aggressive marketing practices targeting children and adolescents.

NatFirst said its long-term goal is to create a comprehensive packaged food intelligence infrastructure capable of supporting consumers, public health advocates, regulators and food brands with transparent, data-driven nutritional insights.