India orders e-commerce websites to remove Bournvita from 'health drink' category

The Indian government has ordered e-commerce websites to remove Bournvita and other beverages from the 'health drink' category. In an advisory, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry clarified that the term 'health drink' is not defined under the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act 2006 or its rules. This comes a year after the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) directed Bournvita to withdraw all "misleading" advertisements, packaging and labels following a bombshell video by influencer Revant Himatsingka. The influencer, who goes by the name FoodPharmer, had highlighted the high sugar content in the drink, sparking criticism of the brand and a widespread debate.

"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 FSSAI and Mondelez India Food Pvt Ltd," the commerce ministry said the notification.

FSSAI’s direction on proper categorisation

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India's Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSAI) on April 2 asked all e-commerce websites to ensure proper categorisation of products on their websites.

This direction came after it observed instances of certain cold drinks and beverages, such as dairy-based beverage mixes, cereal-based beverage mixes, and malt-based beverages, being sold on these websites under the category of 'health drink' or 'energy drink'.

"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 notification 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," it added.

Significance of the move

The move aims to bring transparency to the categorisation process and aware consumers of the so-called energy drinks.

Watch:Is Bournvita as healthy as it claims?

Earlier, an investigation by the NCPCR found that the sugar levels in Bournvita were much higher than the acceptable limits.

Statement by Bournvita

The company, owned by Mondelez, has claimed that the sugar levels in its drinks are below the recommended daily sugar limit for children.

"Every serve of Bournvita has 7.5 grammes of added sugar, which is approximately one and a half teaspoons. This is much less than the daily recommended intake limits of sugar for children," the company had said.

(With inputs from agencies)