New Delhi, The Supreme Court on Monday questioned the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India over its proposed timeline for implementation of front-of-package labelling on packaged foods and asked why it wants to waste so much time when the matter relates to the health of citizens.
“Why voluntary compliance for a year? Why do you need so much time? Why do you want to start afresh with the exercise of hearing and calling for objections? The FSSAI has now proposed adopting a red hexagonal warning label for packaged food products high in nutrients of concern such as sugar, fat and salt and it would use a red hexagon against a white square-shaped background on the front of food packages.
You started in 2022 what did you do in the last four years,” the bench remarked while reserving its order in the matter. The counsel for FSSAI told the court that what was initiated in 2022 was Indian Nutrition Rating star-rating system in 2022 and the yardstick was completely different then. It told the apex court that the draft amendment regulations would be published for 60 days to invite comments from stakeholders through domestic consultation and the WTO platform.
The food regulator told the top court that it would require approximately four months to issue and finalise the draft regulations. The top court had earlier asked the FSSAI, which has proposed phased implementation of front-of-package labelling on packaged foods, to come up with more clarifications on the planned labels of “nutrients of concern”, fat, sugar and salt. The FSSAI had earlier told the top court that it proposed to provide a prominent front-of-pack warning label in red for food products high in added saturated fat, added sugar and salt.
