FSSAI faces Supreme Court scrutiny over food warning labels

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is facing scrutiny from the Supreme Court regarding its proposed front-of-pack warning label (FoPL) regime. The regulator had suggested a two-phase rollout, where the first phase would only label products high in two or more nutrients (sugar, salt, or saturated fat), while the second phase would cover products high in any single nutrient. The Supreme Court has questioned this phased approach, asking for a fixed timeline and whether the labels should be mandatory from the start to protect public health, particularly for children.

In a separate enforcement action, the FSSAI has ordered the immediate recall of two products. Nilgiri Oil and Allied Industries must recall ‘Shalimar’s Chef - Coriander Powder’ due to high pesticide residues, and Aquagri Processing must recall its ‘Carrageenan’ product after it was found to be unsafe due to cadmium levels.

Additionally, the FSSAI is moving to increase oversight of e-commerce platforms to prevent the sale of non-compliant or expired food products. This follows discoveries of relabelling scams in dark stores where expired items were repackaged to bypass safety checks.