Flipkart Amazon ecommerce Companies Instructed to Drop Health Energy Drinks Labels Misleading Customers

Many times food brands market their products contrary to their actual nature. Government agencies related to food say that excessive consumption of products is dangerous for children as well as adults, but companies sell those products by calling them healthy. To crack down on this, now the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has recently ordered all e-commerce companies to do accurate labeling of some beverage categories. The authority says that India’s food law lacks a clear definition of the term “health drink”. Under the current rules, the term “energy drink” is reserved exclusively for carbonated and non-carbonated water-based flavored beverages, which should not be the case.

TOI quoted a report from Economic Times told FSSAI also emphasised on refraining from labelling dairy-based, cereals-based, or malt-based beverages as “health drinks” or “energy drinks”. FSSAI believes this may mislead consumers and has urged e-commerce food business operators (FBOs) to immediately rectify any incorrect categorisation by removing or excluding such beverages from the “health drink/energy drink” category.

The report states that FSSAI clarifies that the term “health drink” lacks standardisation within the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006 and the related rules and regulations governing the food industry. In contrast, the use of “energy drinks” is only permitted for products that fall under specified criteria.

The objective behind this directive is to increase clarity and transparency in the labelling system and ensure that consumers can choose the right product without receiving incorrect information. We already know that many companies manufacturing carbonated or non-carbonated beverages market their products as energy or health drinks, even though those beverages contain very few ingredients that are used for health or energy purposes.

For some time now, the craze for energy drinks is increasing rapidly among the youth, due to which cheap options of expensive drinks like Red Bull or Monster Energy are also being launched in the market. Many types of chemicals and excessive amount of sugar are used in these drinks and the youth are buying them considering them as energy or health drinks. In such a situation, it is important for the customers to be aware of the correct labeling and make an informed decision regarding their beverage options.