The Economic Times| Nov 13, 2018| New Delhi
Food companies cannot use words such as ‘natural’, ‘fresh’, ‘original’, ‘traditional’, ‘pure’, ‘authentic’, ‘genuine’ and ‘real’ on the labels unless the product is not processed in any manner except washed, peeled, chilled and trimmed or put through other processing which could alter its basic characteristics, as per new regulations of Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) that will be notified in the coming days.
Significantly, companies using synonyms of the above mentioned words in their brand names – or even words that could mean fresh, natural, pure, etc – will have to give a clear disclaimer stating “this is only a brand name or trade mark and does not represent its true nature”
The new regulation also specifies norms for several kind of claims that food companies can make in their advertising and promotions. The list includes nutrition claims, non-addition claims, including non-addition of sugars and sodium salts, health claims, claims related to dietary guidelines or healthy diets as well as conditional claims. For instance, packaged food companies can no longer advertise their products as a complete meal replacement, or undermine the importance of healthy lifestyle in any way. In case advertisers want to make claims that the new regulations do not cover, they will have to seek approval from the authority.
The new regulation prohibits food businesses from advertising or making claims undermining the products of other manufacturers as to promote their own products or influence consumer behaviour. There are strict penalty provisions for those misleading consumers.
