FSSAI rules put beverage makers in a tizzy as ‘energy’ deadline looms

New Delhi: Red Bull on Monday approached the Delhi High Court challenging the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India's (FSSAI) ban on labelling its products as 'energy' drinks.

In response to FSSAI's 90-day deadline that runs through September 30, Reliance has introduced Campa Xtra with the same formulation without featuring the term 'energy'. Red Bull, the world's largest energy drink, told the court that FSSAI didn't issue a show-cause notice or give any hearing before passing the order. The court asked the food safety regulator to respond by Tuesday.

Also Read: FSSAI crackdown on energy drink brands; issues notices to 6 firms including Red Bull, Pepsico


Meanwhile, Red Bull products continued to be sold in stores and on online platforms till late Monday. Red Bull, FSSAI and Reliance Consumer didn't respond to ET's queries. PepsiCo, which dropped term 'energy' from its Sting drink last month, is in process of withdrawing existing stocks from the market, industry executives said.

"FSSAI has made a U-turn on its own regulatory position," said a senior executive at one of the affected companies. "In year 2024, it had itself allowed energy drinks as permissible for products licensed under the relevant categories."

"Our new year cans printed with the energy drinks label are ready; we are still hopeful of more time for the change, as it requires close to a year to transition to new labels since there are millions of packs in the market," said another company executive. Red Bull is the only company to seek legal recourse over the matter.

The Indian Beverage Association (IBA), whose members include PepsiCo, Reliance and Red Bull, has yet to take a legal stance on the development.

Also Read: Red Bull, Sting, etc. not recognised as 'energy drinks', says food regulator FSSAI

FSSAI said in its July order that it doesn't recognise the category with no formal category standards defined for energy drinks and that claims such as 'vitalises body and mind' and 'helps in general weakness' are misleading. The regulator's order also stated that all labels, marketing and ad campaigns with the term energy should be pulled out within 90 days.

The category is estimated at ₹9,500 crore with Red Bull, Sting, Monster, Campa and Hell together spending more than ₹2,000 crore annually on marketing. Industry watchers said Red Bull, Sting and Campa Energy will bear the biggest impact of FSSAI's ban since all three had capitalised on niches in the market.