CURTAILING MISLEADING FOOD ADS – POLITY
News: Explained
| Misleading food ads and regulations to curtail them
What's in the news?
● Advertisement Monitoring
Committee at the Food Safety and Standards
Authority of India (FSSAI) flagged 32 fresh cases of food business operators
(FBOs) making misleading claims and advertisements.
● They
were found to be in contravention of the Food Safety and Standards
(Advertisements & Claims) Regulations, 2018.
Key takeaways:
● As
per the regulator, the cumulative count of such offences has shot up to 170 in
the last six months. It urged FBOs to “desist from making any unscientific
and/or exaggerated claims and advertisements to promote their product sales to
avoid enforcement actions and in larger consumer interest.”
Regulations for tackling misleading ads:
1. FSSAI’s Food Safety and Standards (Advertisements
& Claims) Regulations, 2018 - Specifically
deals with food (and related products), and regulates product claims, while the
above guidelines deal with goods, products and services.
2. Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA)
- It has been set up under Consumer Protection Act, 2019. It has been set up to
promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers as a class. Under this,
the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) was set up as a regulatory
body in relation to matters (such as wrong advertisements) affecting rights of
consumers.
3. FSS Act 2006
- Misleading ads are punishable under Section 53 of the Food Safety and
Standards Act, 2006.
4. The Programme and Advertising Codes
- These are prescribed under the Cable
Television Network Rules 1994 and underlines that advertisements must not
give claims which are difficult to be proved.
Actions of FSSAI:
● FSSAI
seeks truthful, unambiguous, meaningful, and scientifically substantiated
claims.
● Claims
suggesting suitability for prevention, alleviation, treatment, or cure of a
disease, disorder, or particular psychological condition prohibited unless
permitted under the regulations of the FSS Act, 2006.
Response of FSSAI:
● Scrutinized
products in categories such as health supplements, organic products,
fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) products, and staples endorsing certain
health and product claims.
● Alleged
violators include manufacturers and/or marketers of nutraceutical products,
refined oils, pulses, flours, millet products, and ghee.
● Cases
referred to concerned licensing authorities to issue notices and withdraw the
misleading claims or scientifically substantiate them.
● Failure
to comply would invite penalties of up to Rs 10 lakh, suspension, or
cancellation of licenses for repeated offenses.
Recent observations in the food advertising ecosystem:
1. Non-disclosure
- Close to 788 ads processed against food advertising, about 299 related to
non-disclosure by food influencers, and 490+ ads found to be misleading.
2. Fairly violative sector
- Violations across different food categories and food.
Definitions of various terms:
1. Natural food product
- A single food derived from a recognized natural source with no additives or
chemicals.
2. Fresh - This reference
is allowed only for products not processed except washing, peeling, chilling,
trimming, cutting, or low-dose irradiation.
3. Pure - It is used for
single-ingredient foods with nothing added and devoid of all avoidable
contamination.
4. Original
- “Original” is used to describe food products made to a formulation, with a
traceable origin that has remained unchanged over time.
5. Nutritional Claims
- Nutritional claims in food advertisements can be about the specific contents
of a product or comparisons with another food item.
WAY FORWARD:
1. Clinical data:
● Companies
need to provide clinical data about the outcomes pertaining to the control
group, the administered group, and the observed period of the claimed outcomes.
2. Interpretable ads:
● Advertisements
need to be modified in a way a consumer can interpret.