India Tightens Packaged Food Warning Label Rules in Setback to Industry

India has hardened its position on warning labels for packaged foods, deciding that products breaching the threshold for even one of salt, sugar or fat will carry a red warning symbol. The change marks a setback for the country's roughly $100 billion food and beverage industry, which had argued against stringent labelling.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has abandoned an earlier proposal under which warnings would have appeared only when two ingredients crossed the prescribed limits. That approach drew criticism from activists and health experts, who described it as too lenient, and prompted the Supreme Court to question the plan.

In a filing dated Wednesday, the regulator told the Supreme Court that warning labels would now be introduced in a single phase. The filing, which is not public, states that where only one nutrient of concern is present, that nutrient will be indicated inside the red hexagonal symbol, which sits on a white square background.

India's food and drinks market is among the fastest-growing for international players such as Nestle, Unilever, Mondelez and Mars, who compete with large domestic firms in a thriving sector.

The labelling debate has intensified since it emerged last month that the government had opted for a weaker regime following lobbying by Coca-Cola and groups backing Nestle and PepsiCo, which contended that warning labels are ineffective. Many companies have, however, adopted such measures voluntarily in European markets.