Activists accuse food regulator of stalling on-pack labelling regulation
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.
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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.
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