New Delhi: The Supreme Court has directed the Union government to ensure that food products properly display nutritional information on their packaging, giving it three months to finalise the amendments to the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020.
On Wednesday, a bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan were hearing a petition on displaying nutritional information on the front of packaged food products, filed by 3S and Our Health, a non-profit organisation.
The Union government told the court that it was already in the process of introducing regulations to that effect.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)—being the statutory body established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006—is entrusted with the crucial function of regulating food safety standards in India.
FSSAI Joint Director Permual Karthikeyan had taken action towards the implementing Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling (FOPNL) requirements, including developing the Indian Nutrition Rating (INR) system.
FSSAI sets up expert committee
The FSSAI issued a draft notification in 2022 concerning these labelling regulations. This included the INR system.
The INR system is a star-based rating system intended to provide consumers with a simplified understanding of the nutritional profile of pre-packaged foods. According to the draft notification, the system assigns a rating from 0.5 to 5 stars, with a higher rating indicating a healthier product. The aim is to empower consumers to make informed dietary choices by presenting nutritional information in an easy-to-understand format on the front of food packages.
Following the publication of this draft, the FSSAI received over 14,000 comments from the public and various stakeholders. These submissions came from a wide range of entities, including food businesses, associations, consumers, consumer organisations, public health organisations, and other regulatory bodies.
In response, FSSAI set up an expert committee in 2023 to review the feedback.
This committee comprised former FSSAI officials and experts with experience of developing FOPNL requirements over the years. It conducted five meetings, during which they carefully reviewed all the comments and suggestions provided by the stakeholders and prepared a comprehensive report outlining its recommendations.
This report was supposed to submit the report to the FSSAI’s scientific committee by 17 February 2023 for its further inputs and approval. However, it asked for an extension till 30 October 2023. It is not clear why the report has not been submitted till date.
During the hearing, the FSSAI asked the court to give it time to continue its “structured, consultative, and evidence-based approach” in deliberating FOPNL and related regulations. The court gave it a deadline of 3 months.
Ruchi Bhattar is an intern with ThePrint
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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