The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Friday issued notices to Nestle India and Hindustan Unilever over misleading claims and non-compliance.
The food regulator said in social media posts that Nestle India was found marketing Nescafé Intense Café Cappuccino, Nescafé Choco Mocha and Nescafé Chilled Latte on e-commerce platforms with inconsistent descriptions.
The front of the pack said “Flavoured Milk,” while the back declared “Proprietary Food – 1.12 Dairy Based Drink.” Online listings called the products “Coffee Flavoured Milk” and carried claims such as “crafted with the goodness of flavoured double toned milk.”
FSSAI said the products fall under the standardised “Flavoured Milk” category, making the “Proprietary Food” declaration incorrect. It held the labelling and advertising to be in breach of the Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018, and the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020.
A separate notice covers Nestle Resource Renal Vanilla powder, meant for the dietary management of chronic kidney disease. FSSAI said it requires prior approval under the 2022 regulations on special dietary and medical purpose foods, which Nestle had not obtained. The label also lacked the mandatory vegetarian/non-vegetarian symbol, said the regulator.
On Hindustan Unilever’s product Horlicks Women’s Plus Chocolate (400 g), FSSAI flagged claims including “Nutrition for Strong Bones,” “Clinically Proven to Help Improve Bone Strength in 6 Months” and “Improves Bone Health” as misleading or non-compliant. “Healthy Muscles” violated rules on the use of “healthy.” The “No Added Sugar” claim was misleading given the presence of maltodextrin, and the “100% RDA of Calcium, Vitamin D & K2” claim did not comply with requirements. The nutritional information table was also not in the prescribed format. Licensing authorities and e-commerce platforms have been asked to act.
On Horlicks Mother’s Plus Kesar (400 g BIB), “Healthy Birth Weight” on the label and “For baby’s healthy birth weight” in advertising were found to be potentially misleading, as they imply the food itself imparts health benefits. According to the regulator, phrases such as “For Pregnancy and Lactation with Protein for Birth Weight and DHA for Brain Development No Added Sugar” were also included in the product name on the e-commerce platform, contrary to the notice’s requirements.
FSSAI further suspended the licences of two other food business operators. The licence of Bala Ji Food Products was cancelled with immediate effect after continued non-compliance, and it must stop all manufacturing and distribution.
Sukhdarshan Pharma’s licence was suspended after an inspection found unhygienic storage and processing, missing records and an overall compliance score of 11 per cent. The suspension remains in effect until the company meets the requirements, the regulator stated.
