India tightens food warning label rules, mandating red symbols for any excess nutrient

In a filing, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) told the Supreme Court it will adopt a single-phase warning-label scheme for packaged foods. Under the new rule, any product that surpasses the permissible level of salt, sugar or fat must carry a red hexagonal warning symbol on a white square background, even if only one nutrient is excessive. This overturns an earlier proposal that would have required two nutrients to exceed limits before a label was applied, a plan that had drawn criticism from health experts and prompted judicial scrutiny.

The regulator’s shift addresses concerns that the prior draft was too lenient. The mandate affects India's rapidly expanding food and beverage sector, valued at roughly US$100 billion and featuring global players like Nestle, Unilever, Mondelez and Mars alongside domestic companies. Earlier reports linked the weaker regime to lobbying by Coca-Cola, Nestle and PepsiCo, although many of those firms already use similar labels in European markets. The new labeling will be rolled out nationwide in a single phase.