The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has instructed all e-commerce platforms to remove beverages, such as Bournvita, from the classification of ‘health drink’ on their websites and platforms. This notification was published on 10th April. The instructions issued by the ministry came after the FSSAI, on 2nd April, asked all e-commerce companies to ensure appropriate categorisation of food products sold on their websites.
The FSSAI’s reaction followed observations of food items licensed as ‘proprietary food’, such as Dairy-based Beverage Mix, Cereal-based Beverage Mix, and Malt Based Beverage, being marketed on e-commerce platforms under misleading categories like ‘health drink’ or ‘energy drink’.
The ministry cited a finding by the child rights body National Commission for Protection of Child Rights that there is no beverage category called Health Drink under the rules.
The statement by the ministry said, “National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, a statutory body constituted under section (3) of the Commission for Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act, 2005 after its inquiry under Section 14 of CPCR Act, 2005, concluded that there is no “Health Drink defined under FSS Act 2006, Rules and regulations as submitted by FSSAl and Mondelez India Food Pvt Ltd.”
It added, “Therefore, FSSAI has advised all e-commerce companies to promptly rectify this misclassification by removing or de-linking such drinks or beverages from the category of ‘health drinks/energy drinks’ on their websites and placing such products in the appropriate category as provided under the extant law.”
The statement further said, “Proprietary foods are items of food that are not standardised in food safety and standards (food product standards and food additives) regulations and food safety and standards (health supplements, nutraceuticals, food for special dietary use, food for special medical purpose, functional food, and novel food) regulations, but use standardised ingredients.”
The ministry made it clear that the corrective measures aim to improve clarity and transparency regarding the characteristics and functional attributes of the products. This ensures that consumers can make informed decisions without being misled by inaccurate information.
Asking e-commerce websites not to put dairy, cereal or malt-based beverages under the Health Drink’ or Energy Drink’ category, the FSSAI on 2nd April said that the term ‘Health Drink’ has not been defined in the food laws of India. On the other hand, the term ‘Energy Drinks’ is allowed to be used only for the products licensed under the Food Category System (FCS) and the carbonated and non-carbonated water-based flavoured drinks.
