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Last week, the Supreme Court pulled up the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) over its failure to take a decision on introducing front-of-pack warning labels for packaged food products containing high levels of sugar, salt and saturated fat.
The Supreme Court bench was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions to the Centre, states and Union Territories to implement mandatory front-of-pack labelling (FOPL) on packaged foods. The bench said FOPL is necessary to create awareness, particularly among children who are increasingly consuming junk food, reported PTI. It directed the government to consult experts and arrive at a decision within two weeks. “Otherwise, we shall proceed to pass further directions,” the bench said.
The court had earlier directed FSSAI to consider front-of-pack warnings in February as well. Separately, a parliamentary panel last month asked FSSAI to finalise regulations in a time-bound manner so that consumers can access nutritional information in a simple format.
What is front-of-pack labelling and why does it matter?
According to FSSAI, front-of-pack (FOP) labelling is a form of supplementary nutrition information that presents simplified nutritional information on the front of pre-packaged foods. It can use symbols, graphics, text or a combination of these to provide information about the overall nutritional value of a product or specific nutrients.
FOP labels are designed to give consumers key health information at a glance, rather than requiring them to study detailed nutrition tables on the back of a package. They can highlight levels of nutrients such as sugar, total fat, saturated fat, sodium and salt, helping shoppers make quicker comparisons between products.
This distinguishes FOP labels from back-of-pack (BOP) information. While FOP systems are intended to provide quick, simplified and easy-to-understand information, BOP labels provide more detailed and standardised nutritional information for consumers who want to examine a product more closely. Depending on the system, FOP labels can use warnings, colours, symbols, star ratings or grades.
Where does India stand on front-of-pack labelling?
The front-of-pack labelling debate in India is a long-standing conflict over how processed and packaged foods should display nutritional information to help consumers easily identify high levels of sugar, salt and fat.
Public health advocates have pushed for prominent, interpretative warning symbols that clearly alert consumers when a product contains excessive amounts of critical nutrients. FSSAI, meanwhile, has considered positive or composite scoring approaches such as the Health Star Rating (HSR), arguing that these can help educate consumers rather than simply warn them.
FSSAI’s own proposal, an Indian Nutrition Rating ranging from 0.5 to 5 stars and taking into account energy, sugar, salt, saturated fat, protein and fibre, received more than 14,000 public comments and was reviewed by an expert committee. The discussions did not result in consensus and the proposal was deferred.
In its latest affidavit, filed on August 3, FSSAI proposed displaying the government’s recommended daily limits for added sugar, saturated fat and salt alongside a product’s nutrient content per 100 grams and its serving size, instead of using warning symbols to flag products high in these nutrients. Critics have argued that simply presenting more nutritional information could leave consumers to interpret the figures themselves, rather than giving them a straightforward warning.
What are the different types of front-of-pack systems?
Front-of-pack nutrition labelling systems can broadly be divided into interpretive and non-interpretive systems.
Interpretive systems provide consumers with an assessment of a product’s nutritional quality against a defined standard. Within this category, summary indicators give an overall assessment of a food’s nutritional quality. Australia’s and New Zealand’s Health Star Rating, which ranges from half a star to five stars, is one example. France’s Nutri-Score is another, using a five-colour scale and grades from A to E.
Colour-coded systems provide another form of interpretive labelling. Traffic-light labels use green, amber and red to indicate low, medium and high levels of nutrients such as fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt. Approval stamps or symbols are also used to indicate that a product meets specified nutritional standards within a particular food category.
Non-interpretive systems, by contrast, provide numerical information about nutrient content without explicitly judging whether the product is nutritionally good or bad. These may show nutrient amounts and their percentage contribution to recommended daily intakes.
How do countries around the world label packaged foods?
Countries have adopted markedly different approaches to FOP labelling, ranging from prominent warning symbols to colour-coded ratings and voluntary nutritional information.
Chile: Chile uses highly visible black octagonal warning symbols resembling stop signs to identify products high in calories, added sugars, sodium or saturated fat. Products carrying warning labels are also subject to restrictions on marketing to children, including the use of cartoon characters, and cannot be sold in schools.
Israel: Israel uses a dual-colour approach, with mandatory red warning symbols for products high in sodium, sugar and saturated fat, alongside voluntary green symbols that identify foods meeting specified nutritional criteria.
Mexico: Mexico has a mandatory warning-label system using black octagons to alert consumers when packaged foods and drinks contain excessive levels of nutrients or energy. The main warning stamps cover excess calories, sugar, saturated fat, trans fat and sodium.
United Kingdom: The UK’s FOP nutrition labelling system is voluntary and uses a traffic-light format alongside Reference Intakes. Red, amber and green indicate high, medium and low levels of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt. The label also shows the percentage of an average adult’s recommended daily intake provided by a portion.
France: France uses Nutri-Score, a five-colour system ranging from dark green to dark orange/red and corresponding to grades A to E. The score is designed to help consumers compare the overall nutritional quality of packaged foods by weighing positive components, such as fibre, protein and fruit and vegetable content, against factors such as energy, saturated fat, sugars and sodium.
China: China has taken a different approach, combining national labelling standards with public-health messaging rather than adopting a single warning-label format. Revised standards released in March 2025 and set to take effect in March 2027 expand mandatory labelling requirements to include sugars and saturated fat, alongside messaging advising children and adolescents to limit their intake of salt, oil and sugar.
United States: The US does not currently have a mandatory nationwide FOP nutrition labelling system. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires packaged foods to carry core information including the statement of identity, net quantity of contents, ingredient list, Nutrition Facts panel and manufacturer information. A mandatory FOP system is under development, while some food manufacturers voluntarily use simplified nutrition information on the front of packages.
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