The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established stricter rules on the manufacture, labelling, sale and promotion of infant food products across the state that place a greater emphasis on breastfeeding information and limits on how baby food and infant formula can be marketed.
Under the new compliance order, packages of products covered by the rules must prominently display the message “IMPORTANT NOTICE – MOTHER’S MILK IS BEST FOR YOUR BABY.” The order covers suppliers, brand owners, importers, repackers, distributors, retailers, pharmacies, hospital suppliers and e-commerce platforms.
The Maharashtra FDA said inspections and surveys had revealed labelling and marketing-related issues with products intended for infants. It found instances where mandatory breastfeeding notices, age-of-introduction information and preparation warnings were missing from product packaging.
Some were sold with names like “baby cereal”, “health mix”, “stage food” and “nutrition powder”. Products sold for infants are being marketed under prescribed criteria: The FDA has now made sure that products are in compliance.
The new requirements go beyond the breastfeeding warning. Packaging should contain instructions on how to make the product and warnings regarding boiled water. Products should also contain feeding advice and complementary foods should be introduced only after six months. This order also requires information that the product should be used on the advice of a health professional and not as the only source of nutrition if it is to be used.
Maharashtra has also tightened restrictions on advertising and promotional activities involving infant formula and infant foods. The FDA order bans advertising these products through a range of media and specifically social media and influencer promotions. Free samples, gifts, cashback offers and other promotional incentives are also prohibited under the new compliance framework. The restrictions are applicable to promotional activities in hospitals, pharmacies, medical conferences, e-commerce platforms and parenting-related channels.
Another major provision of the order is the prohibition on some imagery and marketing language in infant food packaging. Pictures of babies or women are prohibited while “humanised”, “maternalised”, “complete food” and “health food” are not allowed, according to the order. The measures are to prevent packaging and promotional material from giving false or misleading impressions about the nutritional characteristics or suitability of infant products.
The action comes against the backdrop of existing regulations governing infant milk substitutes, infant foods and feeding bottles in India. Maharashtra FDA is responsible for enforcing food-safety legislation in the state and works with national food-safety regulations. Food Safety and Standards Regulations cover foods for infant nutrition and labelling.
FDA has also emphasized that infants and children below two years are particularly vulnerable consumers because they can’t make feeding decisions themselves and parents need product labels and advice from healthcare professionals. According to the FDA, restrictions on marketing practices are intended to reduce the possibility of commercial promotions influencing infant-feeding decisions.
The new framework covers a wide range of products, from infant milk food, follow-up formula to complementary and traditional infant foods, foods for special medical purposes intended for infants and feeding bottles. That means compliance requirements are not restricted to regular formula milk but also applicable to many products of infant nutrition.
So companies in this sector will need to review their packaging, advertising campaigns, promotional offers and distribution practices for this sector. E-commerce sellers and pharmacies are also covered so the order applies to physical retail and online sales channels. Violations can be punished under food safety laws, the FDA has indicated. In the case of misleading advertisements or unlicensed business, violations can be fined up to ₹10 lakh, and so can substandard or misbranded food.
As parents, the changes mean that infant food packaging sold in Maharashtra will have to provide more prominent information about breastfeeding, appropriate usage, preparation and the age at which complementary foods should be introduced. The restrictions also signal tighter scrutiny of the language, imagery and promotional strategies used to market products aimed at infants.
The new Maharashtra FDA’s order is a major change in how the state looks at infant food marketing. By including more stringent labelling and limits on promotion such as advertising, influencer promotion, discounting or free samples and other marketing claims, the administration is trying to regulate the marketing of infant nutrition products to consumers more closely, they say.
