India's food-label complaint reaches Supreme Court — SkimNews
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- 3S And Our Health filed the first complaint against India's warning-label proposal in the Supreme Court, calling the two-nutrient rule an industry-friendly loophole that would exempt many harmful products.
- India's proposal would require a red hexagonal label when a product exceeds limits for at least two of added sugar, salt or saturated fat.
- Rajiv Shankar Dvivedi said in the filing that a product high in sugar alone remains a diabetes risk.
- An Indian government source said activists' concerns were unfounded and that a second phase would require warning labels for each concerning nutrient, though no dates for the phases have been set.
- Industry groups have opposed India's measure but not yet filed court challenges, saying a substantial majority of packaged products could attract warning labels.
- Chile's 2016 food labelling law placed separate black octagons for each high nutrient, followed by a 23.7% decline in purchases of sugary drinks, researchers said.
Why it matters: The Supreme Court's September 10 hearing will weigh a proposal governing a $100 billion packaged food and drink industry, with activists seeking one-nutrient coverage and the government saying per-nutrient labels will come in a second phase that has no dates. The unresolved timeline leaves the scope of warnings in court.
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