On April 10, the Ministry issued a directive to online platforms, stating that the designation of ‘health drink’ lacks definition within the nation’s food and safety standards laws.
The Ministry’s advisory to all e-commerce companies cited the findings of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), established under the Commission of Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act 2005. Following an inquiry under Section 14 of the CRPC Act 2005, it was determined that no explicit definition of a health drink exists under the FSS Act 2006, in accordance with rules and regulations provided by FSSAI and Mondelez India Food.
Although the manufacturers of these beverages may remain largely unaffected, provided they refrain from labeling their products as health-oriented on packaging, any promotional materials depicting their products as ‘healthy’ or ‘nutritious’ will require withdrawal.
Nevertheless, given the existing directives from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) regarding branding and advertising, it’s unlikely that a significant inventory of such materials exists.
In the case of online marketplaces like Flipkart and Amazon, where inventories are not held directly, sellers will be responsible for updating their product categorizations. This process may entail some time as it necessitates adjustments to technological solutions. Sellers must access their accounts through which they list products on these platforms to effect these changes.
Conversely, inventory-led firms such as BigBasket will need to implement the measure more swiftly, as the responsibility for making the adjustment falls directly on them.
As of Saturday, all e-commerce platforms were still classifying these products as health and nutritional beverages.