India’s Supreme Court scolds lawyers for delaying nutrition labels
India’s Supreme Court recently lambasted government lawyers for delaying a regulation to require nutrition warning labels on the front of food packages.
The news came as a shock. Nutrition policy rarely makes headlines, but it seems that the two justices who made up the court at the hearing on 13 Aug were well aware of the deteriorating state of nutrition in the country of 1.5 billion people.
Consumption of ultra-processed food in India skyrocketed from a value of US$900 million in 2006 to US$37.9 billion in 2019. One result: in 2021, 3.4% of children under five were overweight or obese, compared to 1.5% in 2005-6. Among women the prevalence rose from 12.6% to 24.0%, and from 9.3% to 22.9% among men.
“Are you taking the court for a toss?” the court asked lawyers for the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), months after a deadline had passed for the agency to adopt a warning label, reported The Indian Express. “Why are you not abiding by our order?… Will you do it on your own or should we pass an order?”
The blunt questions come after the court in February directed the FSSAI to adopt a warning label. The project actually began much earlier, in 2022, when the agency drafted a label based on star ratings, where the most nutritious foods would get five stars and less healthy ones fewer.
Experts objected, saying that other graphic styles, in the shape of traffic lights or stop signs, for example, would be simpler and more effective. The project has stalled since then.
At the recent hearing the Supreme Court noted the use of various FOPLs in Canada, Israel, and Chile but didn’t specify which style should be used. It did dismiss the argument from central government (‘Union’) lawyers that labels used in other countries wouldn’t be sensitive to India’s unique food environment.
“We do not approve the stance of the Union when it says that it is not possible to match with international standards, more particularly developed countries. Should India remain as an underdeveloped country?”
“The world should know that India is very much concerned about the overall health of its citizens, more particularly the growing children,” added the court.
“It’s very exciting to hear the court use strong language like this,” says Lindsey Smith Taillie, professor in the Department of Nutrition of the Global Food Research Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
“In India and in other countries, the food industry has been able to successfully prevent strong front-of-package labels by either stalling them or promoting labels that research shows are less effective. The judges’ ruling suggests an end to this practice or at least a very serious weakening of their ability to tamper with effective regulation in perpetuity,” she added via email.
Labels already in 40+ countries
FOPLs are growing in popularity as governments worldwide try to address rising rates of obesity and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes and heart disease. Over 40 countries already have either mandatory or voluntary FOPLs and about a dozen more are being developed.
In 2016, Chile was one of the first countries to adopt an FOPL. Its graphic is a black stop sign shape that uses ‘High In’ for excessive fats, sodium, and sugar. A 2025 assessment of the label found, “the proportion of ‘high in’ products and the content of critical nutrients decreased in all food and beverage categories. The largest changes occurred for sodium in savory foods and sugars in sweet foods/beverages.”
A new law in Canada requires ‘High In’ labels for foods with unhealthy amounts of fat, sugar, or salt. But activists there say lobbying by the food industry increased the number of foods that are exempt, including hundreds of cheese products.
In the neighbouring US a new law is in development, as is one in Kenya. Australia announced earlier this year that its voluntary label would become mandatory.
In 2023, researchers from various organizations in and outside India surveyed consumers about five possible FOPLs. They found that a version of the traffic light graphic, not the FSSAI’s proposed star rating, was most effective.
FOPLs improve consumers’ understanding
One of the authors of that report was Simone Pettigrew, Program Director & Professorial Fellow in Food Policy at The George Institute for Global Health. TGI no longer works on FOPLs in India, but Pettigrew says, “our extensive research in around 25 countries shows that FoPLs help consumers better understand the nutritional quality of foods and can lead some consumers to make healthier food choices.”
“At a population level, they are a very cost-effective method of promoting healthier diets. In addition, FoPLs can result in a healthier food supply because they motivate businesses to reformulate their products to attract more favourable FoPLs,” added Pettigrew in an email.
One of the goals of using FOPLs is that industry will reformulate products to reduce ingredients that exceed nutrition standards. According to a researcher in Canada, this was already happening before new FOPLs hit store shelves here on 1 Jan 2026.
But industry also tries to evade regulations. For example, Israel adopted an FOPL in 2020, which uses green and red graphics to indicate positive and negative ingredients. Since then, industry has been trying to weaken their effectiveness, according to the Global Food Research Program.
”Examples of ‘creative compliance’ include changing the colour of product packaging to red to ‘camouflage’ red warning labels and adding round, green labels with health claims designed to mimic the regulated healthy seal.”
India’s Supreme Court directed the government lawyers to return with a decision in two weeks.