The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has issued advisory for all e-commerce companies to exclude all drinks and beverages, including Bournvita, from the category of ‘health drinks’ from their sites and platforms.
“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 ministry said a notification.
This comes after the FSSAI, on April 2, said to all e-commerce companies to make appropriate categorisation of food products sold on their sites and platforms.
The FSSAI’s reaction came after it checked instances of food products licensed under ‘proprietary food’ with the nearest category – Malt Based Beverage, Dairy Based Beverage Mix, Cereal Based Beverage Mix- being sold on e-commerce platforms under the category ‘health drink’ or ‘energy drink’.
FSSAI has stated that the term ‘health drink’ is not defined or standardised anywhere under the FSS Act 2006 or the rules and regulations made thereunder.
“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,” a statement 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.
The corrective action focuses to improve clarity and transparency regarding the nature and functional properties of the products, and making sure that consumers can make well-informed choices without getting entangled in misleading information, the statement further read.
