FSSAI has listed out the guidelines regarding various types of claims on the food labels in the Advertising and Claims Regulation, 2018. Types of claims covered under this regulation are health claims, nutritional claims, non-addition claims, dietary guidelines related claims and conditional claims. As someone who review at least one label per week, the most common corrigenda that we at Food Safety Works come across on almost all the labels are the claims written on them, specially the conditional ones. 

A conditional claim can typically be defined as any printed, audio, or visual representation that suggest that food has particular qualities which are subjected to one or the other requirements being met. For example, writing naturally fat free on the label should meet the requirements mentioned in schedule I of the Advertising and Claims Regulations. The product should not have fat more than 0.5 g per 100 g for solids or 100 ml for liquids to be claimed as fat free.

Since labels can be one of the most powerful and cheapest tools to promote the products it is common to see some exaggeration. Adjectives like “natural”, “fresh”, “pure”, “genuine”, “authentic”, “real” etc. are used abundantly in the industry to enhance the product appeal. The problem starts when these words are used without any substantial facts or figures or when they are used to blatantly misguide the consumer, for example writing “homemade” or “home cooked” on a product which has been mass produced in a factory.

As per a survey conducted recently 15% of the consumers say that they find most frequent misleading advertisements in food industry. Every year FSSAI collects tons of fines from the food manufacturers and marketers due to misleading advertisements and claims. There is a great deal of pressure from consumer groups and regulatory bodies to ensure correct use of these conditional claims.

If a food product is naturally rich or low or free of a specific nutrient, then it can be declared so on the label with prefixes like “natural or naturally”. For example, if you wish to write gluten free on a refined sunflower oil pack, you should write it as “naturally gluten free”.

For using certain specific words on the label there are prescribed requirements which should be met:

• Natural: It can only be used for single ingredient food items to which nothing has been added and which are derived from a recognized source like plant, animal, microbes, or minerals. Such products must only undergo processing which does not alter its nature, for e.g., chemical free smoking, roasting, blanching, physical refining, freezing, concentration, pasteurization, sterilization, and fermentation. Even the packaging should be done without chemicals and preservatives. However, such products can have permitted food additives that are obtained from natural sources by appropriate physical processing.

If you want to use the word “natural” on a product with more than one ingredient and if all the ingredients and additives meet the above mentioned requirements, then you can use the claims like “made from natural ingredients”.

These conditions also apply to the synonyms of natural such as “real” and “genuine”. Exaggerated use of words in claims like “naturally better”, “nature’s way”, “natural goodness” cannot be used.

• Fresh: A fresh food is something which is not processed or preserved in any manner. The term can only be used for food products that have only undergone minimal processing like washing, peeling, chilling and chopping or irradiation by ionizing radiation not exceeding 1kGy. An unpacked glass of juice or a bowl of salad can be called as fresh. There is nothing fresh about the items which have been packed, stored or transported. Using claims like “freshly packed”, “freshly stored” is prohibited.

Nevertheless, for items which are quickly frozen while they are still fresh, claims like “frozen form fresh” or “freshly frozen” is allowed.

• Pure: Don’t we all love this particular one? We have come across labels saying, “pure sambhar masala” or a “pure pasta sauce”. Well, as per the law adjective “pure” can only be used on single ingredient foods which are free from any type of contamination. You can call your products to be “made with pure ingredients” if your ingredients match these criteria.

Use of this word is absolutely prohibited for brand names or other meaningless phrases on the label.

• Authentic, Genuine, Real: Although there is no specific restriction or criteria to use these words on the labels, but you must clarify the reason for using such claims and in what way the overall quality is tangibly justified. If you are writing “authentic” on the bottle of the pizza sauce that you are selling, then you should be able to submit some physical proofs to back it. Are you bringing in all the ingredients from Italy or do you have a team of Italians cooking that sauce?
• Traditional: As per the definition given in the regulations, traditional is essentially something which has been in existence since at least 30 years. No, we are not talking about a food product with 30 years shelf life here. It can be a recipe or formulation or a processing method which can be described as traditional.

• Original: This can be used in terms of a recipe or a process which has not been changed over a period of time and its roots can be traced. You can use this claim to describe a product only if it has not changed any material degree and is available as a standard product for the new variants. It can used on products that are being re-introduced into the market after some gap if these conditions are met.

If these adjectives are being used in any of your brand names, product names or trademarks then a disclaimer of not less than 3 mm size must be printed along with it: “This is only a brand name or trade mark and does not represent its true nature”.

The influence of advertisements on consumer choice is undeniable. And it is this fact that makes it imperative that advertisements be fair and truthful. Misleading claims are not just unethical, they also might attract hefty fines and penalties of up to Rs. 10 Lakhs

Author: Surabhi Soral is a Food Technologist and passionate about setting things right in the first go. She is a Consultant at Food Safety Works and heads the the regulatory and compliance team.