India has to act on its ‘sugar’ problem

GS II – Health | Nutrition | NCDs | Public Health Policy

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), prodded by the Supreme Court, proposed a simple but overdue idea. Packaged foods high in fat, salt, or sugar should carry a bold red warning on the front of the pack, not buried in fine print on the back.

India’s Sugar Problem:

• The number of children suffering from morbid obesity and diabetes has increased sharply, with 41 million Indian children and adolescents aged 5–19 reported as overweight or obese.
• Products such as breakfast cereals, sweetened yoghurts and health drinks are promoted as nutritious, while their high sugar content receives less attention.
• In 2024, a multinational was found adding sugar to infant food sold in India and other lower-income countries, while the same product in Europe did not contain added sugar.
• A popular health drink was found to contain largely flavoured sugar syrup, and it took social media pressure rather than regulatory action to push the company towards reducing its added sugar by 15%.
• Schools and colleges often have easy access to cheap but unhealthy snacks, making children and teenagers more vulnerable to poor dietary choices.
• A ₹20 energy drink popular among teenagers contains nearly 17 grams of sugar, along with caffeine and artificial colour. Although its label says it is not intended for children, children can still purchase it.
• The market makes unhealthy, high-calorie products affordable within a child’s pocket money, increasing their accessibility and consumption.

Need for Enforcement

•  The FSSAI and CBSE have recommended restrictions on what schools should sell, but optional rules are often treated as optional, allowing canteens to stock whatever is cheapest and sells most.
•  A red warning label can influence consumer choices only when food-labelling rules are mandatory and effectively enforced.
• Regulation largely focuses on packaged and organised retail, while much of the sugar, salt and trans-fat consumption occurs through street stalls, dhabas and sweet shops. A warning label on a packaged biscuit cannot address jalebi and other foods sold loose, leaving a major part of the food environment outside regulatory oversight.
•   India needs an honest debate on taxing sugar, particularly because international experience suggests that taxation can influence both consumer behaviour and industry practices.
•   The U.K.’s soft drinks levy was structured according to sugar content, encouraging manufacturers to reformulate products and reduce their sugar levels rather than simply passing the cost to consumers.
•    India’s uniform GST approach needed ,since September 2025, aerated and sweetened beverages, including sugar-free versions, have been placed under the same 40% GST slab, providing limited incentive for manufacturers to reduce sugar content.
•  India could adopt sugar-content-based taxation, where products with higher sugar attract higher taxes, encouraging manufacturers to reformulate them.

Conclusion

The proposed FSSAI red label can be an important first step, but India needs mandatory food standards, restrictions on marketing unhealthy food to children, regulation of the unorganised sector and a well-designed sugar tax.

From awareness to action: India’s sugar problem requires moving beyond awareness towards effective enforcement, healthier food environments and industry-level reformulation.

Mains Questions 

Q. “A sugar tax should be designed as a public-health instrument rather than merely a revenue-generating measure.” Examine with reference to India.