NEW DELHI, Sept 10 (Reuters) – India’s food regulator told the nation’s Supreme Court on Thursday it is open to stricter food labelling measures than proposed earlier, following criticism that it was delaying implementing the warning labels by proposing a two-phased approach.
After years of delays, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) last month proposed initial red-coloured hexagonal warning labels for products that exceed limits in at least two of three categories — added sugar, salt or saturated fat — with plans to make the labels stricter in a second phase.
Questioned by Supreme Court judges why the FSSAI was taking a two-phased approach that activists had said was too lenient, the regulator said it was open to implementing stricter labels right from that start, with warning labels placed on products that were high in only one ingredient.
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Tom Hogue)
