Soon, red hexagonal label to warn of high fat, sugar, salt in snacks

Shortly, red hexagonal label to warn of high fat, sugar, salt in snacks The FSSAI affidavit proposes the warning label for packaged foods high in two or more ingredients of concern based on thresholds specified under the Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024.

Key points

• 4 min read New Delhi Aug 30, 2026 05: 44 AM IST.
• The apex court is hearing a plea by a Kerala-based non-profit organisation, 3S and Our Health Society.
• As per the affidavit, the plan to introduce the Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling will be executed in two phases.
• Advocate Rajiv Shankar Dvivedi, appearing for the petitioner, remarked, We have received the FSSAI compliance affidavit.
• Is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express.

Experts say the two or more nutrient threshold in phase I may render the move ineffective as plenty of unhealthy products would not need to add warning label since they are high in just one nutrient. They additionally flagged the challenge of the apply of the term "continued" as it is challenging to estimate. (Image generated using AI).

Prompted by the Supreme Court, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has proposed introducing a red hexagonal front-of-pack label to warn consumers if packaged foods are high in salt, continued sugar, or went on fat.

"The proposal is intended to provide a simple, prominent and easily comprehensible warning to consumers regarding food products which are high in specified nutrients of concern, " the compliance affidavit filed by Kavitha Ramaswamy, Joint Director, FSSAI, before the SC remarked. The apex court is hearing a plea by a Kerala-based non-profit organisation, 3S and Our Health Society.

While there is no notification yet – nor a timeline for implementation – the country's apex food safety regulator has stated in its affidavit that the warning label, in English, will be carried on the front of the packet in a font size one point larger than the one applied in the nutritional information table provided at the back of the pack. Red warning labels for unhealthy packaged snacks: What has FSSAI proposed?

As per the affidavit, the plan to introduce the Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling will be executed in two phases. In the first phase, only products with a high content of at least two of the ingredients will carry the warning label. In the second phase, the warning will extend to products high in even one ingredient.

"The label shall indicate the applicable declarations such as 'high fat', 'high sugar', 'high salt' and/or 'highly sweetened beverage', as the case may be, to enable consumers to identify products high in the specified nutrients, " the affidavit states.

Single-ingredient food products and "food products which are inherently rich in fat, sugar or salt, such as ghee, edible oil, salt, sugar, jaggery and honey, subject to the applicability of other requirements under the food safety and labelling regulations", will be exempted from the labelling requirement, the affidavit stated. The FSSAI remarked the two-phase plan is "to facilitate consumer acceptability and provide industry adequate time for reformulation". Explained Nutrient threshold, employ of 'went on' term.

Advocate Rajiv Shankar Dvivedi, appearing for the petitioner, remarked, "We have received the FSSAI compliance affidavit. We have prepared a revised draft. It has been circulated on the petitioner's website. We have invited comments from the public on the remarked rejoinder (affidavit). After getting all the comments, we will file our rejoinder."

Nutrition experts have welcomed the move to introduce warning labels but have some reservations concerning the implementation. Dr Arun Gupta, Convener of Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest (NAPi)- India, remarked: "In principle, FSSAI has agreed to the warning labels, but they have put in a whole lot of conditions that produce it ineffective. Take for example the two or more nutrient threshold in the phase I of implementation. Plenty of unhealthy products would not need to add the warning label as they are high in just one nutrient." He noted the FSSAI has additionally not given any timeline for phase II when all products high in fats, sugars or salts will have to carry the warning.

Another challenge is the employ of the term "went on". "The food products will have to carry the warning only when there are continued sugars or went on fats. One, this is tough to estimate. Two, it is not just the continued fat or went on sugar that harms the health; high levels of natural sugars can additionally be bad." He additionally stated the font size proposed is too small and the message should be carried in Hindi as well. © The Indian Express Pvt Ltd.

Ananthakrishnan G. Is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express. He has been in the field for over 26 years, kicking off his journalism career as a freelancer in the late nineties with bylines in The Hindu. A graduate in law, he practised in the District judiciary in Kerala for regarding two years before switching to journalism. His first permanent assignment was with The Press Trust of India in Delhi where he was assigned to cover the lower courts and various commissions of inquiry. He documented from the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India during his first stint with The Indian Express in 2005-2006. At present, in his second stint with the daily newspaper, he reports from the Supreme Court and writes on topics related to law and the administration of justice. Legal reporting is his forte though he has extensive experience in political and community reporting too, having spent a decade as Kerala state correspondent, The Times of India and The Telegraph. He is a stickler for facts and has a number of impactful stories to his credit.

Taken together, the developments around soon, red hexagonal label to warn of high fat, sugar, salt in point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.