A parliamentary committee on July 23 requested the meals regulator FSSAI to finalize ‘front-of-pack vitamin labeling’ rules inside a time restrict to make sure that customers have entry to dietary info in a simple approach. File | Picture credit score: Getty Photographs/iStockphoto
A parliamentary panel on Thursday (23 July 2026) requested meals regulator Meals Security and Requirements Authority of India (FSSAI) to finalize the ‘Entrance of Bundle Diet Labeling’ (FOPNL) rules in a time-bound method so that buyers can entry dietary info in a simple method.
The Standing Committee on Client Affairs, Meals and Public Distribution submitted a report back to Parliament on the “Regulation of packaged items with particular reference to the sugar content material of child merchandise and different meals merchandise”.
The Committee was dissatisfied to study that the draft FOPNL rules have been notified on September 13, 2022, acquired over 14,000 stakeholder feedback, and are presently into consideration and intensive session.
“The Fee notes that, greater than two years after the draft notification, and with continued delays in finalizing the rules, there’s a lack of simplified and interpretable front-of-pack info, notably relating to sugar content material,” the report states.
As consumption of packaged and ultra-processed meals will increase, the Fee emphasised the necessity for well timed provision of clear, easy-to-understand dietary info to allow customers to make knowledgeable dietary decisions.
The committee famous that the present labeling framework depends totally on numerical disclosures akin to grams and percentages of the beneficial dietary allowance. Such labels usually are not simply understood by all customers on the time of buy.
“The dearth of straightforward interpretive instruments, akin to warning labels or color-coded labels, limits the effectiveness of those disclosures in guiding client conduct,” the report mentioned.
The Committee, due to this fact, beneficial that the FSSAI finalize and notify the FOPNL Rules throughout the prescribed time-bound framework.
Moreover, FOPNL proposed that accessible, at-a-glance info must be offered so that buyers can rapidly and simply verify the dietary standing of merchandise.
The committee beneficial that the notified rules ought to incorporate a easy, clearly seen and easy-to-interpret labeling mechanism that features a color-coded sugar content material indicator for all merchandise utilizing a three-color format (crimson, yellow and inexperienced) to point excessive, medium and low sugar content material.
Labels ought to incorporate acceptable warning labels for merchandise which are excessive in sugar.
