Activists Move Supreme Court Against India's Food Warning Label Plan
Health activists file first court challenge to India's proposed red warning labels, calling the two-nutrient trigger an industry loophole.
A public health advocacy group has filed the first formal legal challenge in the Supreme Court against India's proposed front-of-pack food warning labels, arguing that the current design would let many unhealthy products escape scrutiny.
The non-profit, 3S And Our Health, contends that requiring a red hexagonal label only when a product exceeds limits in at least two of three nutrients — added sugar, salt, or saturated fat — creates an "industry-friendly loophole" that prioritises profit over public health.
"A product that is high in sugar alone remains a diabetes risk," the group's lawyer, Rajiv Shankar Dvivedi, argued in the filing, which is scheduled for a hearing on September 10.
The challenge comes as India's packaged food and beverage industry, valued at over $100 billion, has long resisted such measures. Some industry executives have separately warned that a substantial majority of packaged products could attract warning labels under the proposal, potentially hurting demand.
A government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, dismissed the activists' concerns as premature, noting that warning label regimes are typically introduced in phases worldwide. The source said India plans to tighten rules in a second phase by requiring labels for each concerning nutrient individually, though no timeline has been set and the government awaits the court's guidance.
The debate unfolds against a backdrop of rising obesity: a Lancet study cited in the filing estimates that 180 million Indian adults were overweight or obese in 2021, a figure projected to reach 450 million by 2050.
International evidence suggests such labels can shift behaviour. Researchers have linked Chile's 2016 labelling law, which places separate black octagons for each high nutrient, to a 23.7% decline in sugary drink purchases.
The proposal follows earlier reports that India had yielded to industry lobbying in March, when Coca-Cola and groups backing Nestle and PepsiCo opposed front-of-pack warning labels.