- India's food safety agency denies requests to extend energy drink label removal deadline
- FSSAI enforces a strict 90-day compliance period for removing "energy drink" labels
- Beverage firms like PepsiCo and Red Bull sought one-year delay to use existing stocks
India's food safety agency will reject requests from international beverage businesses to extend its 90-day deadline to remove "energy drink" labelling to a year, accoridng to a report, a decision that is expected to cause significant disruptions to the industry.
Global beverage conglomerates' requests to extend the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India's 90-day deadline for eliminating the word "energy drink" from high-caffeine beverages were denied by the food safety regulator, Reuters reported, citing a source.
In order to process millions of existing cans and outstanding import orders, beverage businesses such as PepsiCo, Red Bull, Monster Beverage, and Reliance Consumer Products had asked for a one-year delay.
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The FSSAI is adamant about the 90-day compliance window and "companies should be happy India is not prosecuting them" for breaking current food regulations, Reuters reported. "The companies have breached regulations by ​labelling them energy drinks; they should be happy (India) is not prosecuting them," the government official added.
According to Reuters, the FSSAI privately gave the companies 90 days in July to remove "energy drink" or any similar term from high-caffeine beverages, claiming that there were no Indian standards on such products and that using that term violated regulations.
According to Euromonitor, retail sales of energy drinks in India are increasing at a rate of 12.6% per year, which is more rapid than in China and the US. Between 2018 and 2023, retail sales increased by almost 100% every year, reaching 907 million litres last year—roughly 3 billion bottles or cans.
The government source, who declined to be named since the decision is not public, stated that the FSSAI will not consent to a deadline extension because numerous Indian states have communicated that current stocks of such drinks can be sold out in 60–90 days.
The beverage businesses have requested at least a year to put the judgment into effect since they have millions of cans or bottles on the market or outstanding orders for imported cans.
Some regulators throughout the world are concerned about the health effects of energy drinks since they include high levels of sugar, caffeine, and the amino acid taurine. In England, they will be prohibited for under-16s starting in April of next year.
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According to industry sources, the beverage majors are also begging the Indian government to stop certain state governments from seizing energy drinks.
As part of its enforcement campaign, the Indian state of Rajasthan confiscated thousands of Red Bull, Reliance's Campa Energy, and Pepsi's Sting last month. The food safety agency of the federally governed territory of Ladakh announced it will be seizing goods in a statement to Reuters.
According to Euromonitor, the market in India flourished following Pepsi's 2017 launch of Sting, whose 20-rupee ($0.21) plastic bottles proved popular among 15- to 19-year-olds and in rural regions.
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