Critically examine the role of FSSAI in tackling India's rising burden of diet-related non-communicable diseases, including childhood obesity.

Diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension now often begin in childhood. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) was set up under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 to make science-based food standards [2]. It has started to move from food safety towards preventive nutrition, but so far only in a piecemeal way.

Role and strengths

• Infant food composition: The draft FSS (Foods for Infant Nutrition) Amendment Regulations, 2026 would ban added sucrose and fructose in products for infants up to six months. This brings formula closer to breast milk and tackles obesity risk early [1].
• School food environment: The 2020 school regulations ban the sale of foods high in fat, sugar and salt inside school campuses [3].
• Consumer information: The 44th Food Authority meeting approved printing total sugar, salt and saturated fat in bold, larger font on food labels [4].
• Participatory rule-making: Its rules are delegated legislation with a 60-day public consultation, so scientific evidence is weighed against stakeholders' views [1].

Limitations

• Narrow age coverage: The infant ban leaves out complementary foods for babies aged 6–24 months, which is where added sugar mostly appears. A WHO/Europe survey found about a quarter of baby foods contained added sugar or sweeteners [6].
• Ingredient-based, not nutrient-based: The ban names only two sugars. Fruit purées and concentrates, which WHO/Europe counts as free sugars, remain a loophole [7].
• Information without limits: Bold labels inform buyers but set no maximum levels. They also depend on buyers reading them, which many low-literacy households cannot easily do.
• Marketing outside its remit: FSSAI controls what goes into a product, not how it is advertised. Fewer than half of infants worldwide are exclusively breastfed [5]. In 2020, MoHFW still had to tell officers to prosecute violations of the IMS Act, 1992 [8], which suggests enforcement is weak.
• Implementation lag: Several key measures are still drafts or approvals, not rules in force [1][4].

Conclusion

FSSAI now uses three tools against diet-related NCDs: composition rules, rules on school food and labelling. Each one is still partial. The way forward:

• extend sugar limits to all foods for children up to 36 months, as in the WHO/Europe Nutrient and Promotion Profile Model [7]
• cap total sugar instead of naming individual sugars
• survey what infant foods are actually sold in Indian shops
• work with MoHFW to enforce the IMS Act actively

Together these steps would give effect to Article 47's duty to improve nutrition and public health, and to SDG 3.4 on reducing NCDs.