Food giants in India call for rethink on red colour labels

NEW DELHI: India should reconsider the red colour of its proposed food warning labels as it can confuse consumers who associate the colour with non-vegetarian ingredient markings, food companies in India have told the Supreme Court.
India is in ⁠the midst of an unprecedented food safety crackdown, including nationwide raids against eateries, amid concern over ⁠poor hygiene and standards. The government's plan for front-of-pack red warning labels came after heated public debate on the lack of such measures.
The warning labels proposal has coincided with India's push to ban junk food sales to children in schools ‌and within 50 metres (164 feet) of schools, measures that will ​take India close to stricter ⁠food regulation approaches adopted in Chile and Mexico.
In India, the food regulator has ​proposed a red hexagon warning label system to ‌mark high salt, sugar or fat in packaged items, despite the more than $100 billion industry's multi-year campaign to oppose the labels.
In a court filing dated ​September 24, All India Food Processors Association, which represents dozens of Indian and foreign food giants, said the colour and symbol used for the warnings 'require careful consideration in the Indian context'.
'The average Indian consumer is habituated to associating the colour red with the mandatory non-vegetarian identification mark,' the industry group said in the filing, which was reviewed by ‌Reuters.
The group said it had told the food regulator that 'introducing another prominent red warning symbol ​may create confusion among consumers,' the filing said.
FIX THE THRESHOLDS
India is a top growth market for global ​consumer ‌giants ⁠like PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Mondelez and Nestle, and also thousands of small Indian companies which sell traditional savouries and sweets.
The lobby group told the Supreme Court it was not against front-of-pack warning labels, but the thresholds must ​be decided in a scientific manner. It said it objected to the 'indiscriminate ⁠application of the ​thresholds presently proposed'.
India is proposing a red warning if added sugar is in excess of 3% of solid products by weight, and fat in excess of 4.2% - stricter than many foreign markets.
The industry also reiterated its concerns that warnings should be decided on consumption of a single serving of a product, and not ​100 grams as currently proposed.
'Indian foods are eaten in widely varying quantities, including approximately ​10g of pickle, 15-20g of spread of condiments, 30g of bread,' the industry group said.
The Supreme Court is set to review the government's proposal on Monday.