{"id":1727,"date":"2026-09-12T19:54:04","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T19:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/health.dzwonkinatelefon.net\/supreme-court-questions-fssai-on-thresholds-for-high-sugar-salt-fat-warnings\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T19:54:04","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T19:54:04","slug":"supreme-court-questions-fssai-on-thresholds-for-high-sugar-salt-fat-warnings-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/supreme-court-questions-fssai-on-thresholds-for-high-sugar-salt-fat-warnings-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court questions FSSAI on thresholds for \u2018high\u2019 sugar, salt, fat warnings"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Supreme Court on Thursday (September 10, 2026) questioned the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on how it proposed to determine whether packaged foods were \u201chigh\u201d in sugar, salt or fat as part of its proposed front-of-pack warning labels, as it underlined that food safety was a cause of \u201cnational interest\u201d.<\/p>\n

The FSSAI had last month proposed prominent red warning labels on packaged foods high in added fat, added sugar or salt, marking a regulatory pivot after the top court questioned its reluctance to introduce such warnings.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSupreme Court asks FSSAI\u00a0to consider warning labels for packaged foods high in sugar, salt and saturated fat<\/div>\n
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In an affidavit filed before the court, the food regulator said the labels would take the form of a red hexagonal warning on the front of packages where a product was found to be high in two or more specified nutrients of concern \u2014 fat, sugar or salt. The thresholds would be based on those prescribed under the Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024, issued by the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition (NIN).<\/p>\n

A Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran, while examining the FSSAI\u2019s affidavit, however, questioned how the regulator would determine the threshold beyond which a packaged food would be classified as \u201chigh\u201d in sugar, salt or fat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you ask them to put a label, say high in salt, high in sugar, high in sodium, high in potassium, how will you determine it? Have you laid down any guidelines?\u201d the Bench asked.<\/p>\n

Additional Solicitor General Brijender Chahar, appearing for the Centre and the FSSAI, said the regulator was adhering to the guidelines issued by the ICMR-NIN.<\/p>\n

The Bench was hearing a public interest litigation petition filed by non-profit organisations 3S and Our Health seeking warning labels on packaged foods to indicate high levels of salt, sugar and saturated fats. On Thursday, it indicated that it would soon pass a detailed order seeking further information from the stakeholders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have done some homework and undertaken some study. We propose to pass an order calling for some further information from you. Study the order and come back with an appropriate further report,\u201d Justice Pardiwala told Mr. Chahar.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tExperts urge Centre to implement mandatory warning labels on packaged foods <\/div>\n
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\u2018Take orders seriously\u2019<\/h4>\n

The top court also asked the regulator to take its directions \u201cseriously\u201d, stressing its concern over the impact of food safety standards on public health, particularly that of growing children.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are concerned with the health of people, more particularly growing children. We have taken it up very seriously… We expect one and all to extend cooperation in a cause which is in national interest,\u201d Justice Pardiwala said.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tExpedite law on front-of-pack labelling with clear timelines: Experts <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018Two-phase rollout\u2019<\/h4>\n

The FSSAI had told the court that it intended to introduce the front-of-pack nutrition labelling (FoPNL) system in two phases to give consumers time to adapt to the new labels and the food industry time to reformulate its products. Under the first phase, the warning would apply to products high in two or more of the three specified nutrients, added fat, added sugar and salt, besides certain sweetened beverages. The second phase would extend it to products high in even one of these nutrients.<\/p>\n

The Bench, however, questioned why a product would initially have to be high in more than one nutrient to attract the warning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has to be sugar and salt. Only then will you ask them to put a label?\u201d Justice Pardiwala asked.<\/p>\n

Taking the court\u2019s suggestion into account, Mr. Chahar told the Bench that the regulator could consider introducing the warning labels \u201cin one go\u201d, rather than in two phases. This would effectively bring products high in even one of the three nutrients within the warning-label regime from the outset.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRed hexagon on your snack pack: What FSSAI\u2019s new proposed warning label means | Explained<\/div>\n
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Senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing for an intervenor, meanwhile argued that ultra-processed foods could not be placed on the same footing as other packaged foods, citing the example of snacks such as Kurkure on the one hand and eggs or salted cashews on the other. He urged the court to consider a more prominent warning for ultra-processed products.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltra-processed food and packaged food… both cannot be equated,\u201d Mr. Kamat submitted. Pointing out that red and green marks are already used to distinguish non-vegetarian and vegetarian products, respectively, he suggested that a different colour could be prescribed as a warning for ultra-processed foods.<\/p>\n

The Bench said it would consider the suggestion and pass an order, which would be uploaded within a day or two.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFSSAI must finalise, notify Front-of-Pack nutrition Labelling norms in a time-bound manner: Parliamentary Panel<\/div>\n
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Earlier, the court had questioned the FSSAI\u2019s reluctance to adopt warning labels for foods high in sugar, salt and saturated fat and asked whether pressure from food manufacturers was influencing the regulator.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t want people of this country to remain healthy? More particularly growing children?\u201d the Bench had asked, warning the authorities that it was their \u201clast chance\u201d to rollout the warning labels.<\/p>\n

The court had made clear that its concern was not about banning any particular food but ensuring that consumers, particularly children, knew what they were consuming before making a choice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bench emphasises that food safety is a cause of \u201cnational interest\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthcare.hibisports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}