Supreme Court Directs FSSAI To Submit Report On Warning Labels Disclosing Sugar, Salt And Fat Content In Packaged Foods
The direction was issued to facilitate the necessary amendments to the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Amendment Regulations, 2022.
The Supreme Court has directed the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to prepare its recommendations and submit a report regarding the implementation of Front-of-Package Warning Labels within three months.
A Bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan passed the direction on April 9. "We dispose of this Writ Petition with a direction to the Expert Committee to prepare its recommendation and submit a Report in that regard at the earliest so that relying on the report, the necessary amendments can be given effect to", the Court ordered.
Advocate on Record Rajiv Shankar Dvivedi appeared for the Petitioner, while Additional Solicitor General Brijender Chahar represented the Respondents.
The Petitioner, 3S And Our Health Society, a charitable organisation, filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) before the Court seeking directions mandating the implementation of Front-of-Package Warning Labels on packaged food products. The Petitioner submitted that such labels should display levels of sugars, salt, and saturated fats to help consumers make informed choices regarding their food intake.
In its affidavit, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) explained the steps it has taken toward implementing Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling (FOPNL), and stated that a draft notification for the amendment of the FSS (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020 was issued on 13th September 2022.
This amendment included the introduction of the Indian Nutrition Rating (INR) system for Front-of-Pack nutrition labelling, which uses a star rating to indicate the nutritional quality of packaged food.
In its affidavit, FSSAI stated, “It is submitted that to analyse and address the robust public feedback on the draft amendment notification, FSSAI constituted an Expert Committee on 17th February 2023. This committee, comprising of experts involved with FSSAI in developing FOPNL over the years, conducted five meetings and carefully reviewed all stakeholders comments. The expert committee in its 5th meeting has prepared the report of its recommendation. The report of the expert committee and the amended final (draft) notification of FSS (Labelling and Display) Amendment Regulations, 2022 will be submitted to the Scientific Committee for further recommendation and approval.”
Taking note of the feedback received concerning the notification, the Bench directed the Expert Committee to prepare its recommendations and submit a report in three months, so that necessary amendments could be implemented.
Consequently, the Court disposed of the petition.
Cause Title: 3S And Our Health Society v. Union of India & Ors. (Writ Petition(Civil) No.437/2024)
Appearance:
Petitioner: AoR Rajiv Shankar Dvivedi; Advocates S.K. Sarkar, Bhushan, Rishi Jain
Respondents: Additional Solicitor General Brijender Chahar; AoR Sudarshan Lamba; Advocates Swarupama Chaturvedi, Anmol Chandan, Bhuvan Kapoor, Vaishnav Kriti Singh, Harsh Hiroo Gursahani, Suhaan Mukerji, Adarsh Kumar, Sayandeep Pahari, Tanmay Sinha
