FSSAI notices put baby food and nutrition product claims under scrutiny

FSSAI has issued show-cause notices to major food and nutrition companies over claims made for infant formula and children’s nutritional drinks. The regulator has sought scientific evidence and explanations, while also questioning the promotion of infant formula products on social media.

Hyderabad: Wrapping commercial products in scientific-sounding jargon, emotionally playing on parental anxieties to coax them into buying baby food, and pushing unverified health claims to boost sales of health and baby products has, for a long time, been a standard playbook for companies.

However, such deceptive and misleading claims are finally being met with resistance, as food regulators and apex courts have started insisting that before flooding the markets with their untested products, MNCs and nutritional giants must prove what they claim in the laboratory first.

---

The recent wave of show-cause notices to Nestle, Abbott, Mead Johnson Nutrition and Zydus, by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), against such deceptive advertisements, unverified health claims and promotional violations, has put a spotlight back on the practice of misleading vulnerable consumers and making profit at their cost.

The FSSAI action has come in the wake of the Supreme Court’s scathing remarks over deceptive advertising and public health safety. The apex court slammed companies that make misleading claims and even hauled up regulators for dragging their feet on clear front-of-pack warning labels, questioning whether undue pressure from powerful food manufacturers has allowed public health interests to be sidelined.

The food regulator notices have also made it clear that companies can no longer treat clinical trials as marketing tools. From now on, any claim of enhanced growth due to a product or claims that a specific additive will make a baby’s brain grow smarter or better will have to undergo rigorous peer-reviewed scientific scrutiny evaluated directly by regulatory authorities.

The authorities have also included social media influencers and digital content creators in regulatory warnings to address a major loophole. In the last few years, such influencers and content creators, through promotional reels and unboxing videos, casually recommend specific baby milk substitutes under the guise of lifestyle advice. Such claims made by influencers are now firmly in the crosshairs of regulatory agencies.

Public health specialists familiar with the issue said that FSSAI warnings to big brands over fake health claims on drinks, baby formula, and social media advertisements show that much of the industry relies on guesswork and claims, not on hard facts.

Infant Nutrition

• Companies rely on scientific jargon, unverified health claims, and parental anxieties to boost sales

• Food regulators and the Supreme Court are demanding that nutritional giants prove their claims in the lab before launching products

• FSSAI has issued show-cause notices to Nestle, Abbott, Mead Johnson Nutrition, and Zydus over deceptive ads and promotional violations

• Companies can no longer use clinical trials as marketing tools

• Physical growth and brain-development claims must face rigorous peer-reviewed scrutiny

• Regulatory warnings to influencers and content creators who casually push baby milk substitutes under the guise of lifestyle advice

• Crackdown exposes an industry built on guesswork and unverified claims rather than hard data