FSSAI will put pictorial warning on liquor bottles to spread awareness

Food Standards and Safety Authority of India (FSSAI) has designed a new idea to spread awareness about harmful effects of consuming alcohol among the denizens of the country. The regulatory body will soon carry pictorial messages on the liquor bottles that will convey the message of ill effects of consuming liquor and will also warn them about drink and driving.

According to one of the officials of FSSAI, currently the governing body is in the process of setting the standards for alcoholic beverages and contiguously it is also studying global practices regarding pictorial warnings and messages around drunk driving.

“We are examining international practices regarding pictorial warnings and messages around drunk driving and alcohol consumption. After this we will finalise our recommendations for inclusion of such warnings in regulations for alcoholic beverages that are being finalized,” official said.

NGO Community Against Drunken Driving (CADD) had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in Delhi High Court seeking pictorial warning on drunk driving on all alcohol bottles, Indian or Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL).

However, the court has turned down the plea on May 18 and snubbed to increase the size of statutory warning on liquor bottles and packaging, saying it was in the realm of policy making. However, it had directed the FSSAI, under the ministry of health, to consider the plea as a suggestion and take a firm view in this regard.

“I have met officials at FSSAI and given them four designs along with messages to be used as part of the bottle label. Pictorial warnings are critical as they are understood, easily without any language barrier and also comprehensible by persons who cannot read or write,” said Prince Singhal, activist, and founder of CADD.