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Natfirst unveils AI assisted data analysis of packaged food and beverages
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Monday, 25 May, 2026, 12 : 00 PM [IST]
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Our Bureau, New Delhi
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More than 80% of packaged biscuits and cookies in India contain palm oil and artificial flavours, according to a new AI assisted analysis by NatFirst, a Hyderabad-based packaged food data infrastructure startup and parent company of consumer product intelligence platform TruthIn. The findings are from a first-of-its-kind initiative, part of India's largest packaged food label analysis covering more than 23,000 products, crossing 1 lakh scanned product images across 25-plus categories and seven core food and beverage segments.
Across seven primary categories, it found that over 80% of biscuits and cookies contain palm oil and artificial flavours; 60–70% of sweetened breakfast products contain artificial additives; 80% of extruded snacks are high in sodium; approximately 80% of chocolates and desserts exceed added sugar thresholds and are high in saturated fat; 78% of ready-to-drink dairy beverages are high in added sugar; 98% of carbonated drinks contain artificial additives; and 90% of convenience meals are high in sodium, with 96% containing artificial additives.
Ravi Teja Putrevu, co-founder & CEO, Natfirst, said, "For the first time in India, we’ve built a structured, scalable data driven analysis decoding what’s actually in Indian packaged food. We’re driven by the core belief that nutrition transparency should be accessible to all. This is the first step towards executing our vision of building the data infrastructure layer covering all the packaged food and beverage products available in India, built to serve consumers, policymakers, brands, and public health advocates.”
Dr Aman Sheikh Basheer, co-founder & chief medical officer, Natfirst, said, "The data is crystal clear and sourced from publicly available labels. Across multiple categories, a shared set of HFSS ingredients, artificial flavours and colours appear repeatedly. Many of the products are consumed daily, often by children, and some are even frequently positioned as healthy or suitable for regular consumption. The issue is not that food labels don’t exist, but whether everyday consumers are able to meaningfully decode them and make informed choices.”
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