 "consumer products, consumer goods")
After a government advisory, several consumer goods companies have dropped the “health” label from their products.
Hindustan Unilever (HUL), the country’s largest consumer goods maker with Horlicks and Boost in its kitty, has renamed its portfolio as “functional nutrition drinks”.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry had on April 10 issued an advisory to e-commerce companies, asking them to remove Bournvita and other products of that nature from the “health drinks” category on their portals.
The advisory followed a probe by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)
based on complaints it received on the high sugar content of such products.
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Referring to the probe, the ministry said that there is “no ‘health drink’ defined under FSS Act 2006.”
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And since there is no such term as “health drinks” in FSS Act 2006, the use of the term for beverages is inappropriate, the ministry said.
Post announcing its results on Wednesday, Rohit Jawa, managing director and chief executive officer at HUL, said in its press conference, “We changed the labels as required to functional nutrition, which I also believe is a much better name for the category.”
“We believe that this category of ‘functional nutrition’ has a massive role to play in the community because of the macronutrient deficiency and opportunity to serve the consumers in the right level of daily nutrients across the income spectrum,” Jawa said.
He also said that the market is not deeply penetrated and there is still opportunity for us to grow in this category.
Meanwhile, Mondelez India, which sells Bournvita, now calls its product Cereal-based beverage Milk drink.
Complan, which belongs to Zydus Wellness, is now referring to it as a “nutritional drink” and it falls under the nutrition platform for the company in all its internal presentation, according to a source in the know.
