Latest news with #FOPNL
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Business Standard
6 days ago
- Health
- Business Standard
SC grants Fssai 3-month extension to decide on front-of-pack labels
The Supreme Court has granted the expert committee under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (Fssai) another three months to submit its recommendations on the proposed introduction of mandatory warning labels on the front of packaged food items. Earlier this year, in April, the apex court had already allowed a 90-day extension to the committee for its recommendations on the amendments proposed by the Fssai regarding Front-of-Pack Warning Labels (FOPL) on packaged foods, to inform customers about the sugar, salt, and fat contents. On the insistence of the Centre, a bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan granted a further three months on 15 July, stating it would be the last opportunity for the committee. "This is an application at the instance of the Union of India praying for extension of time by a further three months to enable the Expert Committee to prepare its Report as directed by this grant further time of three months for one last time, failing which we shall proceed to take appropriate steps in accordance with law," the court order of 15 July stated. The direction was passed following a public interest litigation plea filed by 3S and Our Health Society, highlighting the urgent need for interpretive labels that clearly indicate levels of sugar, salt, and saturated fat in packaged foods. The plea argued that such labels would empower consumers to make informed dietary choices, help reduce the prevalence of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and address public health concerns related to obesity, hypertension, and cardiovascular conditions. In an affidavit filed by the FSSAI, it was stated that to implement the Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling (FOPNL) requirements, a draft of the proposed amendment to the FSS (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020, was notified on 13 September 2022 and made available to the public for objections/suggestions. Following the notification, over 14,000 comments were received from public stakeholders, including food businesses, consumers, and consumer organisations. To analyse the public feedback, the Fssai constituted an expert committee on 17 February 2023. In its fifth meeting, the expert committee prepared a report containing its recommendations. The report of the expert committee and the amended final draft notification of the FSS (Labelling and Display) Amendment Regulations, 2022, were to be submitted to the Scientific Committee for recommendation and approval. According to Fssai's affidavit, the proposed amendment aims to introduce an Indian Nutrition Rating (INR) for FOPNL. This format employs a star-rating system (ranging from 0.5 to 5 stars) that presents simplified nutrition information on the front of pre-packaged food items, providing information on the overall nutritional value of the food and/or the nutrients included in the FOPNL. Under the INR system, a higher star rating indicates a healthier product. The design aims to simplify the complex nutritional content of packaged foods, enabling consumers to assess products quickly and make healthier dietary decisions more easily.
Time of India
15-07-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Activists accuse food regulator of stalling on-pack labelling regulation
Representative image Public health advocates have accused the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India ( FSSAI ) of delaying tactics as it has sought three more months for its expert committee to finalise its report on front of pack nutritional labelling (FOPNL) regulation. The Supreme Court had in April directed that the exercise be completed in three months. This was after FSSAI failed to finalise the amendments two and a half years after the draft regulation was made public in September 2022 and comments were sought from all stakeholders and the public. Front of Pack labelling was proposed in 2014 by an expert committee constituted by FSSAI on the order of the Delhi High court. The order came on a public interest petition seeking labelling and a ban on sale of junk food in schools. Eleven years later, it is still hanging fire. Last week (July 7) FSSAI filed an application seeking extension of time to comply with the SC order passed on April 9. The application revealed that the FSSAI had organised stakeholder consultations with food business operators and other concerned stakeholders across four regions –Delhi Goa, Hyderabad and Kolkata— in May 2025. 'During the consultation sessions, stakeholders shared their views and comments on the draft regulations related to Front-Of-Pack Nutrition Labelling (FOPNL)' stated the application, adding that such meetings were 'essential feedback to the draft regulation' and needed to be placed before the expert committee. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Các chỉ số toàn cầu đang biến động — Đã đến lúc giao dịch! IC Markets Tìm hiểu thêm Undo Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest (NAPi), a think tank on nutrition, has issued a statement questioning the meetings being organized by FSSAI with the industry when all stakeholders were given an equal opportunity to give their feedback when the draft was made public on September 13, 2022 and comments were invited. According to the FSSAI it received 14,000 comments and constituted an expert committee on February 17, 2023 to analyse the public feedback on the draft amendment notification. 'Why should the FSSAI begin a new process? Why these new invitees for comments could not give their comments when these were invited in September 2022?' asked NAPi in its statement adding that FSSAI had already ensured freedom from any regulation on FOPNL for almost three years for the food industry by delaying the finalising of the amendments. In response to RTI queries, the FSSAI has refused to make public the 14,000 comments it received from stakeholders and the public citing 'commercial confidence', indicating that the industry had already given its feedback. Its application seeking an extension stated that the draft report of the expert committee's recommendations was ready. NAPi questioned why the report was not being made public when it was ready even before the Supreme Court had ordered for the exercise to be completed in three months. FOPL, acknowledged globally as an effective policy measure to help consumers make healthier choices and reduce consumption of ultra-processed food, has been fought hard by the food industry worried about falling sales. However, with research repeatedly establishing that processed foods with high sugar, salt and fat and low fibre content are linked to rising incidence of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, heart ailments, and certain cancers, many countries have adopted FOPL. The FSSAI's extension application also indicates that even after the expert committee's report is submitted, it could take months before any regulation is finalized with several stages to be gone through.
India Today
12-07-2025
- Health
- India Today
Packaged food alert: Why India needs warning labels, not health star ratings
The Supreme Court, while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) recently, set a three-month timeframe for the Centre to implement food safety norms in the country. The PIL, filed by the Pune-based non-profit 3S and Our Health, had raised concerns about food safety and the need for package labelling norms, especially around nutrients of concern—salt, sugar and fat—so that consumers could make informed government, in its reply, informed that the country's highest food safety regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), had received over 14,000 public comments from various stakeholders on the proposed labelling norms, and had started the amendment September 2022, FSSAI introduced draft Front-of-Package Nutrition Labelling (FOPNL) guidelines and proposed an Indian Nutrition Rating or Health Star Rating model. This is supposed to be an FOPNL system that rates the overall nutritional profile of food, from a star to 5 stars. The more the stars, the healthier the this model work? George Cheriyan, working president of the Consumer Protection Association, thinks otherwise. He argues that companies can add protein or some vitamins to offset the negative impact of sugar or salt content in their food products and still manage a decent rating. For instance, if a bar of chocolate contains some nuts, it may get a healthy score without accounting for the presence of excessive fat and sugar. 'The entire purpose of warning about the presence of harmful ingredients gets ignored in this,' says Cheriyan. Cheriyan suggests India needs warning labels such as those used in Chile, where excess calories, sugar and fat are displayed in large black octagons on food packages, since literacy levels are low in the country and language barriers abound. Thus, warning labels should be in the form of symbols or emojis—just like the red dot currently indicating non-vegetarian food and a green dot indicates a vegetarian are enough studies to underscore the positive impact of food warning labels on public health. Data suggests that 18 months after Chile implemented FOPNL norms, including restricting advertisements for unhealthy products between 6 am and 10 pm, warning labels on packaged food, and a ban on selling junk food in schools, the consumption of sweet beverages reduced by 25 per cent. The study, published in medical journal PLOS Medicine, had tracked 2,000 Arun Gupta, convenor of the National Advocacy in Public Interest, a think-tank on nutrition, says interpretative labels don't work. 'Consumers take 6-8 seconds to choose the brand, and the star rating system doesn't empower them to make decisions according to their personal choices and health and lifestyle preferences,' he states it is time consumers be made king in the real sense. 'It is time to go back to that ethos,' he says. That mission can only be accomplished through a food labelling system that empowers consumers to make choices and take health into their own hands, he Sanyal, chief operating officer and secretary at VOICE (Voluntary Organisation in Interest of Consumer Education), describes FOPNL as one of the most critical ways to curtail the rising consumption of ultra-processed foods in India. He says there is enough data to show how ultra-processed foods are impacting health and becoming was part of the FSSAI discussions on draft FOPL guidelines. He highlights that a more democratic dialogue is required to determine the right norms for the country. During the last discussion on the draft in 2021, he said, the participation in the meeting was heavily skewed in favour of the industry, with 25 representatives from industry associations such as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), but only five from the other side—three from consumer organisations and one each from civil society and farmer producer says most of the regulations are limited to packaged food while there is also a responsibility to ensure food safety for unbranded products in the informal sector, which accounts for a much larger market than the formal sector in India. He shares how unbranded products or counterfeit brands are freely available in small confectionery shops along the highway or in rural areas. 'FSSAI needs to develop the intelligence-gathering mechanism to ensure that all regulations are implemented on the ground for all food products,' he to India Today Magazine- Ends
The Hindu
06-06-2025
- Health
- The Hindu
Experts urge Centre to implement mandatory warning labels on packaged foods
A collective of public health experts, scientists, legal professionals, and consumer rights advocates on June 3, 2025 issued a renewed call to the Central government to adopt mandatory front-of-pack warning labels on food and beverage products high in fat, sugar, and salt (HFSS). The demand was made during a virtual press conference convened to launch a national Position Statement on Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling (FOPNL). The event, organised by the Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest (NAPi), brought together more than 25 health and civil society organisations that have endorsed the Position Statement. The context for the conference was the Supreme Court's observation during a hearing in April 2025 on a public interest litigation concerning misleading food packaging and inadequate labelling practices. The Court noted that several widely consumed packaged food products, lacked clear front-of-pack information regarding their health risks. It directed the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to revise and finalise its pending 2022 draft regulation on FOPNL within a three-month timeframe. The Position Statement presented at the conference calls for the immediate implementation of interpretive warning labels on HFSS products to enable informed consumer choices and stem the growing tide of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in India. K. Srinath Reddy, former president of the Public Health Foundation of India, highlighted the dangers of ultra-processed foods (UPFs), likening their health claims to the paradox of breathing polluted air. 'Saying ultra-processed food gives nutrients is like saying polluted air also gives oxygen,' he said. Speakers Arun Gupta, National Convener of NAPi, elaborated on India's regulatory delays and called for a policy that reflects global health standards. Chandrakant Lahariya of the Foundation for People-centric Health Systems, presented scientific findings from India, reiterating that HFSS foods are directly linked to the rise in lifestyle diseases. Diabetologist Banshi Saboo highlighted the alarming increase in diabetes and obesity, stating that consumer choices are heavily influenced by deceptive packaging and unregulated health claims. Ashim Sanyal, chief operating cfficer at VOICE( Voluntary Organisation in Interest of Consumer Education) addressed the issue of label literacy and the confusion caused by star-based or traffic light labelling systems, while senior advocates M.R. Rajendran Nair and Rajiv Shankar Dvivedi detailed the Supreme Court's observations in the ongoing PIL seeking stricter food labelling regulations. Call for WHO-alinged nutrient profiling model In India, a multi-state trial conducted in 2022 by the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai and CMR - NIN in India with over 2,800 participants showed that warning labels outperformed all other forms of labelling in enabling consumers to identify unhealthy products. A separate study by ICMR-NIN confirmed that brief exposure to such labels led to measurable changes in purchasing decisions. Speakers also discussed the Indian Nutrition Rating (INR), a star-based system proposed by the FSSAI, saying that it fails to alert consumers about health risks. Instead, they pointed out, it creates a 'health halo' around processed food products that should be avoided, not encouraged. Drawing on international examples, the panel referred to Chile's use of black octagonal warning labels that state 'High in Sugar,' 'High in Salt,' or 'High in Fat.' The introduction of these labels resulted in a 24 % drop in sugary beverage consumption within the first year of implementation. Mexico adopted similar warning labels after years of rising obesity. These systems are based on nutrient profiling models recommended by the WHO, and they have shown that clear, interpretive warnings are more effective than numeric or star-based labels in influencing consumer behaviour and industry practices. Crucially, the Statement calls for the Indian government to safeguard labelling laws from being weakened in international trade negotiations, such as the ongoing India–UK Free Trade Agreement.
