After Bournvita, Indigo Food Tagged Unhealthy by Influencer

Last week, the government asked e-commerce platforms to not allow Bournvita to be labelled as a “health drink” adding to the crisis it was already facing which forced it to reduce the sugar content in its malt based drink by 15%. At the centre of this controversy for Cadbury was influencer Revant Himatsingka, who is famously known for reviewing packaged foods. Revant goes by the name of Food Pharmer on social media and this time around, it is the food served on Indigo which he feels is grossly unhealthy.

The Food Pharmer took an IndiGo flight recently and reviewed the food served by the airline. In a post on X (formerly known at twitter),  he alleged that “Indigo’s Magic Upma has 50% more sodium than Maggi”. He went on to say that even poha and daal-chawal served by the airline have more sodium than the instant noodles. This went viral on the internet and the airline issued a statement regarding the same.

“Most of us already know that Maggi is a high sodium food! What most of don’t know is that Indigo’s Magic Upma has 50% more sodium than Maggi, Indigo’s Poha has 83% more sodium than Maggi, and Daal Chawal has as much sodium as Maggi,” Mr Himatsingka wrote alongside a video on X.

In his post, Revant added that, “just because Upma, Poha, Daal chawal sound healthy, does not mean they are healthy. Always remember junk food pretending to be healthy, is even more dangerous than junk food.” Mr Himatsingka said that Indians consume “too much sodium” and regularly consuming excess sodium can result in high blood pressure, hypertension, heart issues and kidney issues.

The Food Pharmer added in his post that “One of the reasons why we don’t feel the taste of excess salt in airlines is because high altitudes reduce our taste bud sensitivity. This is also one of the reasons why most airlines add excess salt in our food.”

In the video he uploaded, Revant said that he ordered all the ready-to-eat food packets on the IndiGo flight he was travelling on. He then checked each packet to see the quantity of sodium. He made a comparison between their sodium content and Maggi’s sodium content. Eventually, the influencer discovered that compared to Maggi, the upma, poha, and dal chawal provided during the flight had higher sodium content. 

Replying to the charges levelled by Food Pharmer, IndiGo, in a statement, said that they serve “fresh” and “pre-packaged food” only from reputed vendors. “All food served on board IndiGo flights carries details on ingredients and nutritional information as per FSSAI norms. Passengers have the choice of choosing from freshly prepared pre-booked meals or purchase pre-packaged food products on board,” they added.

The airline said that the information on the food packet is given for passengers to choose and consume at their discretion. “The preparation of some pre-packaged products is done as per traditional Indian recipes and the salt content is well within prescribed norms. The information printed on the package acts as an advisory for passengers to estimate their nutritional intake and consume as per their discretion. We welcome all feedback to improve our services in our mission to provide an affordable, on-time and hassle free flying experience for our customers.”

Since being shared, the post by Food Pharmer has amassed thousands of reactions on social media. It has been viewed a million times and has seven thousand likes on the microblogging platform.