India wanted red flags on chip packets and soda. Big Food fought back.

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India’s food-safety regulator said in August that it had abandoned a push for colourful warnings ⁠on the front of food packaging |Image used for representational purpose only | Photo Credit: File Photo

A can of Fanta sold in London has 63 calories. Buy ​the same brand in India, and it contains three times as much sugar. It also includes artificial dye, whose presence in food products in Europe requires a prominent health warning. In India, the colourant’s presence is noted merely in small ‌print on the back of the can. That suits some of the world’s biggest companies, which have long resisted Indian efforts to mandate nutritional warnings on the front ​of packaged products.

Consumer giants like Coca-Cola, which makes Fanta, appear to have the advantage. India’s food-safety regulator said in August that it had abandoned a push for colourful warnings ⁠on the front of food packaging. It said such warning labels don't account for how Indian cuisine has more intense flavors than Western food and instead proposed that companies display a black-and-white table of sugar, fat and salt content.

India's Supreme Court is scrutinizing that decision after a petition by public health activists. At stake are the waistlines of the 450 million Indians who could be obese or overweight by 2050, according to a recent study published in the journal Lancet . ‌Experts say more transparency in labeling can forge healthier eating habits. At their urging, roughly 20 nations have adopted interpretive labels — which may include highlighting high sugar levels in red and low fat content in green — on the front of packaged foods.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India buckled after a tense March meeting with industry executives, who argued that such ‌warning labels were confusing and ineffective, according to recordings reviewed by Reuters. Executives also urged regulators to focus on encouraging portion control.

It ‌is “very ⁠simplistic” to believe that a consumer who doesn’t already read ingredient lists “will be so informed by seeing a symbol or an icon on the label” that their diet significantly ⁠improves, senior Coca-Cola India executive Mili Bhattacharya said at the March 19 meeting.

She added that warning labels were pointless because they would not prevent consumers from otherwise having sugary and salty foods. And they were unnecessary because Indian doctors had done a good job teaching their patients what food should be avoided.

Coca-Cola and its bottling partners, however, have voluntarily added traffic-light-style labels to their drinks in some two dozen European markets. Such labels provide “clear and transparent” information, Coca-Cola HBC, a Switzerland-based affiliate, says on its website.

Nestle is a member ​of Indian lobbies that fought the regulator’s erstwhile proposals.