Parliamentary panel calls for strengthening regulation to monitor sugar content levels in infant food products in India

The sugar content in various categories of infant food products, such as infant formula, cereal-based complementary foods, follow-up formula, and packaged traditional infant foods marketed in India, should be carefully regulated and aligned with recommended dietary limits, a Parliamentary panel headed by DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi said.

The panel, the Standing Committee on Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, in its 15th report on ‘Regulation of Packaged Commodities with Specific Reference to Sugar Content in Baby Products and Other Food Products’, urged the government to strengthen its monitoring mechanisms, ensure adherence to nutritional guidelines, and promote formulations with minimal or no added sugars to protect infant health and support healthy growth and development.

Highlighting various studies that link excessive sugar intake from packaged infant foods to significant long-term health risks, including dental caries, obesity, metabolic disorders, and other chronic diseases, the Committee called for the introduction of a mandatory sugar-level classification framework under the Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling regime. The framework should be based on clearly defined and scientifically derived thresholds aligned with WHO and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)–National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) guidance to facilitate immediate recognition by consumers.

The Committee also urged the government to strengthen the labelling requirements for such products to ensure enhanced visibility of added sugar and related nutritional information. It asked the government to explore the possibility of prescribing specific limits for added sugar content in packaged food products intended for infants and young children. It also recommended that sugar disclosure and interpretive labelling requirements be uniformly applied across all packaged food categories without exemption, so that consumers receive consistent and comparable information irrespective of product type. The panel observed that establishing such limits would complement the existing labelling framework and further safeguard consumer health while ensuring that food business operators progressively reformulate products to reduce excessive sugar content.

Another recommendation made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee was to ensure that all foods intended for or marketed to infants and children, wherever added sugar is present in any form, mandatorily carry a clear and prominent front-of-pack declaration stating the presence of added sugar in grams per serving, along with its percentage contribution to the daily energy requirement of the target age group.

It also wanted the Department of Consumer Affairs, in coordination with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, State Food Safety Authorities, and the Central Consumer Protection Authority, to explore the establishment of a coordinated monitoring mechanism or joint task framework to specifically address issues relating to mislabelling and misleading claims in packaged food products sold on e-commerce platforms.

In India, infant food is regulated by the Ministry of Women and Child Development through the Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003; the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare through the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006; and the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.