Supreme Court Sets 10-Day Deadline for Food Warning Label Roadmap
Supreme Court gives Centre 10 days to outline a clear implementation path for warning labels on packaged foods, as the regulator weighs merging two phases.
The Supreme Court has directed the Union government to lay out a clear implementation pathway for warning labels on packaged food products within 10 days, intensifying pressure on the administration to move ahead with the public health measure.
The order follows a complaint from a health non-profit and comes amid a broader regulatory crackdown on food safety that has included raids on eateries across the country.
Last month, the food regulator proposed a two-stage labelling programme. The first phase would require red-coloured hexagonal warnings on products that exceed prescribed limits in at least two of three categories — added sugar, salt or saturated fat. Stricter norms were envisaged for a second phase.
In an order issued late Thursday, the court expressed concern that without a specific indication, the second phase could be relegated to the background or postponed indefinitely. It held that assessing consumer acceptability or allowing industry sufficient time to reformulate products could not justify such uncertainty over timelines.
A government source said the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India will study the order and is prepared to implement both phases together.
The labelling question has drawn intense debate. The food and beverage industry has opposed warning labels, describing them as confusing and ineffective. The government had earlier opted for a weaker labelling regime after lobbying by Coca-Cola and groups backing Nestle and PepsiCo, which argued such warnings do not work. Several companies have, however, adopted similar measures voluntarily in European markets.
The court's intervention now places the onus on the executive and the regulator to specify how and when the labelling framework will take effect.