17 January, 2019
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (“FSSAI”), India's food regulatory authority, had issued the Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018 (“Regulation”) on November 19, 2018 with an object to attain fairness inclaims and advertisements of food products and make food business operators and marketers (which include advertisers, direct marketers and e-platforms) accountable for such claims / advertisements.
The Regulation would protect the consumers from misleading advertisements of the food products available in the market. The Regulation contains several principles and criteria for various claims and advertisements of food products. The Regulation will be effective from July 01, 2019 which means food business operators and marketers have another six months to make requisite arrangements to comply withthe requirements of the Regulation.
Among the other principles laid down in the Regulation to be followed, one of the important principles to be followed by the food businesses is in relation to the usage of trademark, brand name or fancy name containing adjectives such as 'natural', 'fresh', 'pure','original', 'traditional', 'authentic', 'genuine', 'real', etc. for their food products.
The relevant provision of the Regulation states that the food businesses which are having the above mentioned adjectives in the trademark, brand name or fancy name of their product appearing on the label, presentation or advertisement and is likely to misguide the consumers in respect of the nature of the product, such product shall contain disclaimer on the label stating “This is only a brandname or trade mark and does not represent its true nature”.
Further, the claims in relation to such products shall comply with the conditions prescribed in the Regulation. For example, the word 'pure' can now beonly used for the food products that are single ingredient food to which nothing has been added and which is free from avoidable contamination and the levels of unavoidable contamination should be below the levels prescribed by FSSAI.
Further, compound foods should not be generally described as 'pure' butIP Update8 Compulsory disclaimers on food related trademarks under the new regulations such foods may be described as 'made with pure ingredients' provided all the ingredients complies withthe above mentioned conditions. The term 'pure' shall not be included in any brand or fancy names of the food products that do not meet the criteria of 'pure' or' made from pure ingredients'.
Similarly, the term 'fresh' shall be used only for the products which have not been processed in any manner except like washed, chilled, trimmed etc. and even if any process on the food extends the shelf life of the product, it is prohibited touse the term 'fresh'. The said Regulation will now have a substantial impact on the marketing and advertisement of the food products by the food business operators and marketers as the labelling, claims and advertisements of the food products shall be required to comply with the provisions of the Regulation.
For further information, please contact:
Vineet Aneja, Partner, Clasis Law
vineet.aneja@clasislaw.com
