Supreme Court seeks clarity from Centre, FSSAI on red hexagon front-of-pack food labels

Flagging gaps in the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s (FSSAI) proposed phased rollout of front-of-package labelling (FoPL) of “nutrients of concern” such as fat, sugar and salt on packaged foods, the Supreme Court has asked for clarifications on a host of issues.

FoPL is a nutritional information graphic on food packaging that assists consumers in making an informed choice about food purchases and healthier dietary preferences.

A Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice K Vinod Chandran on Thursday asked the FSSAI to spell out why it suggested a combined/composite/singular hexagon for two or more nutrients-of-concern instead of separate/distinct/individual hexagons for each nutrient-of-concern.