Health Ministry Directs E-Commerce Platforms To Remove Drinks & Beverages From ‘Health Drink’ Category

The government has recently directed the e-commerce sites to remove all drinks and beverages from the ‘Health Drink’ section, stating that there is no such thing as ‘health drink’ defined under the country’s food and safety standard laws. While this will not impact the manufacturers much if they have used such terms for advertising they have to work on their packaging again without misleading consumers.

Until recently most of the e-commerce sites were labelling these so-called health drinks as nutritional or health drinks. However, after the directive, this will have to change. This directive came to action after the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), a statutory body under section (3) of the Commission of Protection of Child Rights (CPCR) Act 2005, concluded that there is no health drink defined under FSS Act 2006, rules and regulations submitted by FSSAI and Mendelez India Food.

Since the directions by food safety standards regulator, Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) already exist for branding and advertising, this directive might not need a paradigm shift in marketing. However, for sellers who position themselves as ‘Health Drinks’ on E-commerce sites might have to go and change their categories manually now.