India’s food safety regulator has proposed introducing prominent front of pack warning labels on packaged foods that are high in sugar, fat or salt, reversing an earlier position amid growing public pressure for clearer nutritional information.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) proposed a red coloured hexagonal warning symbol for products containing high levels of at least two of the three nutrients, according to a court filing.
The proposal follows increasing criticism over delays in introducing clearer warnings on processed foods. India’s Supreme Court has also questioned the government’s handling of front of pack nutritional labelling.
The issue has attracted significant public attention after a Reuters investigation found that some multinational food companies sell products in India with substantially higher levels of sugar and other ingredients than comparable products in some Western markets.
Health advocates argue that warning labels would allow consumers to identify potentially unhealthy products more easily than conventional nutritional tables, while food companies have raised concerns about how such rules should be designed and implemented.
The proposed move would mark a shift from the regulator’s earlier decision to abandon colour coded warnings in favour of simpler black and white nutritional information. The reversal comes amid renewed pressure from health advocates, consumers and the courts.
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