The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India dispatched regulatory notices to Nestle India and Hindustan Unilever on Friday, citing product labelling claims and compliance gaps.

Nestle India's listings for three ready-to-drink coffee products — Nescafé Intense Café Cappuccino, Nescafé Choco Mocha, and Nescafé Chilled Latte — carried product descriptions that did not align consistently across e-commerce platforms, according to posts published by the food regulator on social media. Packaging on the front of the products carried the label "Flavoured Milk," while the reverse panel identified them under a different category — "Proprietary Food - 1.12 Dairy Based Drink" — and digital retail listings described them as "Coffee Flavoured Milk" and included promotional language referencing "the goodness of flavoured double toned milk." FSSAI determined that the products meet the criteria for the standardised "Flavoured Milk" classification, rendering the "Proprietary Food" designation on the rear panel inconsistent with that categorisation.

The regulator recorded a violation of two sets of food safety rules — one governing advertising and claims from 2018, the other covering labelling and display requirements introduced in 2020.

A separate advisory was directed at Nestle Resource Renal Vanilla powder, a product formulated for people managing chronic kidney disease through diet. Under the 2022 regulations governing foods formulated for special dietary and medical purposes, advance authorisation from FSSAI is a prerequisite, and the regulator noted that Nestlé had not obtained it. The packaging additionally omitted the required symbol indicating whether the product is vegetarian or non-vegetarian, according to the regulatory body.

Regulatory scrutiny from FSSAI also covered Hindustan Unilever's Horlicks Women's Plus Chocolate (400 g). The food authority determined that bone-strength messaging — including a claim of clinical proof of improvement within six months and related bone-health language — did not meet labelling standards, that the word "healthy" in connection with muscles ran afoul of applicable rules, that a "No Added Sugar" declaration was rendered inaccurate by the product's maltodextrin content, and that the stated coverage of 100% RDA for Calcium, Vitamin D, and K2 fell outside compliance requirements. Formatting of the nutritional information table also fell outside what the applicable guidelines required.

Packaging and promotional language for Horlicks Mother's Plus Kesar (400 g BIB) drew further scrutiny. The phrase "Healthy Birth Weight" on the container and "For baby's healthy birth weight" in marketing materials were reviewed, with the regulator concluding that both claims risk creating the impression that the product itself delivers a defined health outcome. The regulator also noted that the appearance of a phrase such as "For Pregnancy and Lactation with Protein for Birth Weight and DHA for Brain Development No Added Sugar" embedded within the product's name field on the e-commerce listing breached the labelling requirements set out in the regulatory notice.

Regulators overseeing licences and the operators of online retail platforms have both received calls to take action. Two additional food business operators had their licences acted upon by FSSAI as part of the same enforcement action.

Regulatory authorities revoked Bala Ji Food Products' operating licence, citing ongoing failure to meet compliance requirements, and the firm is barred from carrying out any production or distribution activities. Regulators moved to suspend Sukhdarshan Pharma's operating licence after an on-site inspection identified unsanitary storage and production conditions, gaps in required documentation, and an overall compliance rating of just 11 per cent. The suspension remains in place pending the operator's achievement of the compliance requirements outlined by the regulator.