Supreme Court Asks FSSAI for 10-Day Timeline on Phased Front-of-Pack Warning Label Rollout

Key facts

• The Supreme Court rejected the packaged food industry's plea to use per-serve measurements for determining high fat, salt and sugar content under front-of-pack labelling (FOPL), calling the proposal a 'red herring'.
• The court termed FSSAI's two-phase FOPL implementation plan 'ambiguous' and gave the regulator 10 days to provide a clear timeline for stricter implementation of food warning labels on packaged foods.
• FSSAI told the court it was considering mandatory red hexagonal front-of-pack warning labels for packaged foods and beverages high in sugar, salt or saturated fat.
• The court pulled up FSSAI for not implementing FOPL even after a decade of deliberations and asked it to examine whether the level of processing should affect FOPL thresholds.
• The court directed FSSAI to clarify whether FOPL thresholds for sugar and fat would be based on 'total sugar' and 'saturated fat', as agreed at a 2021 stakeholder consultation, or on some other basis.
• The court asked FSSAI to reconsider the red colour of the hexagonal warning labels since Indian consumers associate red with non-vegetarian ingredients, and to clarify the size and dimensions of the labels.
• The hearing was on a public interest litigation filed by non-profit 3S and Our Health seeking warning labels on packaged foods indicating high levels of salt, sugar and saturated fats.