“Bournvita is neither a Health Drink nor an Energy Drink” - Govt of India takes strict actions

"Bournvita is neither a Health Drink nor an Energy Drink" - Govt of India takes strict actions.

On 10th April 2024, Ministry of Commerce and Industry issued an advisory directing all the e-commerce portals to delist sugar loaded drinks like Bournvita from the category of Health Drinks. National Commission for Protection of Child Rights NCPCR explained the reason for there being no clear definition of 'health drink' under FSS Act 2006, rules and regulations submitted by FSSAI and Mondelez India Food Pvt Ltd.

The controversy came into limelight almost a year ago when a youtuber "Food Pharmer" brought up the issue of mismatch between the advertised claims and labels of these products. The sugar content of Bournvita is almost 32g per 100g, although it was decreased earlier to this value from 37g, but NCPCR still assures that this value is much higher than the permissible sugar content for children.

Brands like Real Fruit Juice, Tang and Horlicks are also claimed to be miscommunicating about their nutritional value by "Food Pharmer", Revant Himatsingka. According to him, he is happy that people are now more aware about health and are conscious enough to read the labels of their food products.

Report by Divya

Graphics by Shruti