Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has started a campaign under which restaurants and packaged foods would have to mention calorie count and colour-coded nutrition information on each food item.

“It is the right of the public to know what ingredients are added to the food they are supplied with so that they can make informed and transparent food choices,” he tweeted on Sunday.

Under the ‘Sehatmand Giza – Tandrusti Sada’, every restaurant would inform the consumer about the total calories of the food.

In addition, complete nutritional information based on World Health Organisation recommendations would be published on packaged food items. “Trans fatty acids are being restricted to only 2% to prevent heart and other diseases,” he said.

The campaign was being spread across Pakistan by the premier’s Strategic Reforms Unit in collaboration with food authorities of all provinces.

Salman Sufi, the head of PM’s Strategic Reforms, replied to PM Shehbaz’s tweet.

“Citizens can make balanced choices by knowing how much calories they are about to consume resulting in better health,” he said.