FSSAI Hits Nestle, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and Danone With 150 Label Notices as India Pulls the Energy Drink Name

I had this filed as one more label row. Then I looked at the clock. India gave drinks firms 90 days to strip two words off the can.

The Indian food watchdog is the Food Safety and Standards Authority, or FSSAI. On Saturday it said it has issued more than 150 notices to food firms in recent months. They cover misleading adverts, false claims and broken label rules. The watchdog named 13 of the biggest owners in a single public post.

The list reads like a roll call of the trade. Nestle India, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola India and Danone India are on it. So are Mondelez India, Ferrero India, Red Bull India and Monster Energy India. Hell Energy, Abbott India, Diageo, Pernod Ricard and Kenvue follow.

The action runs past the brand owners

FSSAI also sent 12 notices to Amazon and Flipkart. One Amazon warehouse licence was cancelled. More than 30 notices went to food service chains such as KFC, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Domino's and Costa Coffee. Five Domino's licences were suspended.

That spread matters more than the count. The watchdog is working the whole chain at once. It is hitting the brand owner, the shop, the platform and the kitchen. A firm can fix its own pack and still lose sales where the pack is sold.

The bigger cost is the word itself

In July FSSAI told drinks makers to drop the term energy drink from high caffeine products. Reuters reported that notices went to PepsiCo, Red Bull, Monster Beverage, Reliance and Hell Energy. No Indian standard exists for the term, so the term goes. The firms were given 90 days to change packs.

This is a different order of risk from a fine. A brand can lose the name of a whole drinks type it did not invent. Red Bull built that shelf. Pepsi built the volume under it with Sting from 2017, at 20 rupees a bottle. Euromonitor data cited by Reuters puts Indian sales at 907 million litres last year. It has the market growing about 12.6 per cent a year, faster than the United States or China.

Why the date will not move

The trade asked for a year. On 8 August an official told Reuters the answer is no. States had told FSSAI that current stock can sell through in 60 to 90 days. The watchdog also said firms could not show where their stock was held. That answer cost them the case.

The FSSAI chief, Rajit Punhani, told bosses to go to court if they wanted to fight the order. Some states are not waiting. Rajasthan seized thousands of units of Sting, Campa Energy and Red Bull. The food safety office in Ladakh told Reuters it will seize stock too.

The courts are pulling the same way

On 13 August the Supreme Court faulted FSSAI over its delay on front of pack warning labels. The case covers products high in sugar, salt and fat. The bench said there is heavy pressure from big firms and that the watchdog is giving in to it. The court reads the watchdog as too soft rather than too hard.

Courts do cut both ways here. The Delhi High Court stayed an FSSAI order on Dabur and its 100 per cent claims. FSSAI also pulled an order against a United Spirits site after a legal challenge. So single orders can fall. The direction of travel does not.

What this means for the next two years

India is one of the few big markets still adding real volume for large food and drink groups. In India the words on the pack are now a licence risk. Claims that pass in Europe or the United States can fail here on a rule that exists nowhere else. Brand names, pack claims and shelf language now need a local check before launch rather than after.

Buyers should read this into price. Any Indian drinks asset with a name tied to that shelf carries a live cost. Any brand with a health claim on the front carries a second one. Plan the label before you plan the launch.