India has debated front-of-pack warning labels for years to flag high content of sugar, salt and fat, like those implemented in Chile and Mexico, but faced industry opposition, with businesses specifically worried as many traditional Indian products are high in sugar or fat.
Chile's 2016 food labelling law, which puts separate black octagons on a pack for each high nutrient, was followed by a 23.7% decline in purchases of sugary drinks, researchers have said.
The All India Food Processors' Association says 80% of packaged food could be flagged in India as having high fat, sugar or salt content under the proposed labelling rule.
Pressure in India for stricter labelling has intensified recently from health advocates and social media influencers among others.
The food safety regulator's proposal came amid public anger after Reuters reported that India's government had yielded to industry lobbying in March when Coca-Cola KO.N and groups backing Nestle and PepsiCo PEP.O opposed having warning labels on the front of food and drinks packaging.
Western packaged food giants have been in India for about a century. Nestle started to sell sugary condensed milk in 1912 to what was then a British colony with an extremely poor local population. Unilever ULVR.L began selling "dalda" - a hydrogenated vegetable oil formulation - in India in 1937. It provided a very affordable alternative to expensive traditional ghee and quickly became a staple in lower-class kitchens, restaurants, and sweet shops. Foreign corporations quickly began producing locally to keep prices low.
"Many recipes in India were designed decades ago for a very cost-conscious consumer, and those recipes have simply been carried forward,” said Parul Sharma, a former executive at Mondelez's MDLZ.O India unit who oversaw supermarket sales. "For the longest time, Indian consumers never really questioned brands."
Coca-Cola Co's Thums Up - a cola moulded over decades to suit local tastes - has grown into a more than $1 billion brand that is sold in India and exported to the Indian diaspora.
Thums Up looks similar to Pepsi and Coca Cola but tastes different. Coca-Cola Co bought the brand for about $60 million in 1993 to slowly phase it out and replace it with its own flagship drink. But Indian shoppers were so loyal to the taste that Coke decided to keep it. Coca-Cola's traditional cola is also a cultural mainstay, sold on street corners with a healthy dose of spices as 'masala coke.'
Coca-Cola did not respond to a request for comment.
A Unilever spokesperson said that in the last five years the company has "made significant progress in reducing both sugar and salt across the portfolio, reflecting our support towards healthier diets."
"We have a long-standing commitment to improving nutrition, guided by rigorous science-based standards."
Former Mondelez executive Sharma said taste entrenchment is one of the biggest deterrents for large companies to modify recipes.
"You can’t change a recipe overnight without risking the loss of a very loyal consumer base,” Sharma said.
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