Double Standards: How Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestle Defeated India’s 'Red Flag' Warning Labels on Packaged Foods and Soda

Buy a can of Fanta in London, and it contains 63 calories. Purchase the exact same brand in India, and it contains three times as much sugar, alongside artificial colorants that in Europe require prominent health warnings on the front of the packaging. In India, however, the presence of these additives is tucked away in fine print on the back of the can.

An investigation reported by Reuters has revealed how multinational consumer giants, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé, mounted an intense lobbying campaign that ultimately forced the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to abandon mandatory front-of-pack, color-coded health warnings on processed foods and soft drinks.

Regulatory Retreat Following Tense Corporate Pitch

The policy reversal came after a tense March meeting between FSSAI officials and food industry executives, according to audio recordings and government documents reviewed by Reuters. Industry lobby groups, such as the Indian Food & Beverage Association (IFBA), pushed back aggressively against the proposed traffic-light style warning labels.

Corporate representatives argued that front-of-pack red markers would prove ineffective, confusing, and unnecessary for Indian shoppers. Deepak Jolly of the IFBA pointed out that nearly 80 per cent of products in India's $100 billion packaged food and beverage sector qualify as high in fat, sugar, or salt (HFSS). Consequently, mandatory red markers would leave retail shelves "awash in red."

Following the pushback, the FSSAI dropped its proposal for front-of-pack interpretive labels in August. Instead, the regulator agreed to let manufacturers display simple, non-interpretive black-and-white tables listing sugar, fat, and sodium content on the back of packages. The regulator justified the move by claiming that Western warning threshold models fail to account for the "more intense flavours" inherent to traditional Indian cuisine.

Dual Standards in Global Product Formulations

The regulatory retreat underscores a stark double standard in how global food conglomerates operate across different geographical markets. While many multinational brands voluntarily use traffic-light labels or color-coded Nutri-Scores across Europe and the UK to provide "clear and transparent" nutritional data, they have actively fought similar regulations in developing nations.

Public health advocates and social media consumer activists have drawn sharp comparisons between ingredients used in Indian formulations versus those sold abroad. Packaged goods sold in India regularly feature elevated sugar levels, synthetic dyes, and cheaper fat substitutes like palm oil, whereas European variants of the same brands use reformulated recipes with lower sugar content and natural ingredients.

Supreme Court Steps In Amid Growing Public Health Crisis

The FSSAI’s decision is currently facing scrutiny from the Supreme Court of India following public interest litigation filed by health activists seeking greater labelling transparency.

The top court previously directed regulators to consider front-of-pack alerts, referencing international models like Israel's system of red-and-green warning symbols. When the FSSAI informed the bench that matching international packaging standards was "difficult," the court issued a stern rebuke, stating that "the world should know that India is very much concerned about the overall health of its citizens."

The legal battle comes at a critical juncture for India's public health landscape. According to a study published in The Lancet, nearly 450 million Indians could be classified as obese or overweight by 2050. With middle-class consumers increasingly shifting toward packaged convenience foods, health experts warn that delaying clear labelling standards leaves millions unaware of the risks hidden inside everyday snacks and beverages.