The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has sent notices to various beverage players that are selling products labelled as energy drinks for misbranding and misleading functional claims. The food safety regulator said these beverage brands are being marketed using energy drink descriptors on product branding and labelling, which is not in compliance with the regulations.
energy drink players
Notices have been sent to all the key energy drink players in the country, including Red Bull and PepsiCo’s energy drink brands such as Sting and Adrenaline Rush, besides Monster Energy, Hell Energy and Campa Energy Drink-Gold Boost.
“The FSSAI has not notified any standard for energy drinks or similar products. The Food Category System under the FSS Regulations is not intended for product naming or labelling purposes,” it stated in a social media post.
These beverage brands have also been pulled up for making various functional and therapeutic claims that were found to be in violation of the food safety regulations. The food safety authority outlined that these beverage brands have been making claims such as “vitalises body and mind”, “enhancing focus”, “boosts energy levels”, and “aids in general weakness” among others. It noted that such claims are “not permissible for food products under the FSS Act, 2006 and the Rules and Regulations thereunder”.
This crackdown on misbranding and misleading claims comes at a time when energy drinks consumption is rising rapidly in the country, fuelled by demand from younger consumers. Energy drinks are non-alcoholic carbonated beverages containing caffeine and other ingredients such as guarana, glucuronolactone, taurine, ginseng, inositol, carnitine and B-vitamins that act as stimulants. Currently there are no Codex or FSSR Standards for such drinks. However, such drinks largely fall under the standards defined for the carbonated and non-carbonated caffeinated beverages under the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulation, 2011. Such beverages need to adhere to certain specific labelling norms.
In the past few weeks, the FSSAI had intensified its enforcement drives and issued notices to several leading as well as new-age brands for misleading health claims as well as other branding and labelling violations. It has also sent notices after taking note of consumer complaints on social media.