Sunday Jan 05, 2025
Sunday Jan 05, 2025
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By Charumini de Silva
The multi-billion rupee local food and beverage (F&B) industry has expressed serious concern over the Government’s new food labelling, advertising, and nutritional standards regulations which came into effect on 1 January.
These regulations, aimed at enhancing consumer protection and food safety, have sparked a huge debate among industry stakeholders, with concerns ranging from unclear implementation guidelines to the financial and logistical burden on businesses, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
The regulations, introduced via a gazette in February 2023, were extended from their original January 2013 implementation date, including stringent requirements on nutrition labelling, trans-fat testing, and advertising restrictions.
Among the most contentious clauses is the ban on featuring children under 12 years old in advertisements for food products, which stakeholders argue will disproportionately impact brands reliant on family-oriented marketing.
Industry representatives highlight a lack of updated gazettes or clear guidance on certain regulatory clauses, leaving businesses scrambling to comply.
They claimed the absence of clarity, particularly on deceptive or misleading brand names, has raised fears of subjective enforcement.
Businesses also cite the financial strain, adding that the prohibitive cost of compliance, such as trans-fat testing, estimated at Rs. 150,000 per product coupled with limited testing facilities in the country.
“Small packaging concessions applicable only to products under 100 square centimetres exclude many single-serve items, such as yoghurt cups and sachets,” they said, adding that stakeholders have urged the Food Control Administration Unit (FCAU) to extend this threshold to 200 square centimetres and adopt globally standardised detection levels for trans-fat.
Additionally, they said the mandatory inclusion of warnings in all three languages poses serious challenges for smaller products like essences, which are sold in ounces.
The collective industry leaders, therefore, are requesting exceptions for voluntary warnings and reduced language requirements on compact packaging.
The prohibition on advertising featuring children under 12 years has drawn sharp criticism. Local companies have also questioned the practicality of monitoring cross-border advertisements aired on cable TV, which could originate from affiliate companies abroad.
“We want to know how the authorities are going to stop advertisements on cable tv,” they said.
According to the new guidelines, the use of mascots on packaging is also prohibited now.
“The manufacturers are seeking clarification on whether the use of animal images, such as pictures of cows, will be permitted on Full Cream Milk Powder (FCMP) packs as an alternative to mascots,” they emphasised the confusion in new regulations.
Manufacturers also argued that the restrictions could disrupt sponsorships for cultural and festive events while forcing businesses to cancel media schedules and remove hoardings countrywide.
Despite assurance of dialogue, many businesses feel excluded from the regulatory process.
“In March 2014, two international regulatory experts, Sanjay Dave and Prof. Samuel Godefroy, were brought in by UNIDO to advise on best practices. During presentations to the former Health and Industry Minister, they outlined flexible approaches adopted in countries like India and Singapore. However, these recommendations did not translate into actionable changes,” they claimed.
On a 3 June 2024 letter to former Health and Industries Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, the Lanka Confectionery Manufacturers Association (LCMA), All Ceylon Bakery Association (ACBOA), Sri Lanka Food Processors Association (SLFPA), Sri Lanka Institute of Packaging, and Sri Lanka Advertising Association (SLAA) acknowledged the Food Advisory Committee’s (FAC) partial amendments to the regulations, but insisted that several clauses remained impractical.
“The regulations, as they stand, could render Sri Lanka’s recovering F&B industry globally uncompetitive,” the letter warned.
They said adding to the confusion was the Government’s inconsistent stance. “The FCAU’s website recently announced a six-month postponement for certain regulations, whilst Deputy Health Minister Dr. Hansaka Wijemuni confirmed in Parliament on 6 December 2024 that advertising restrictions would still take effect on 1 January 2025,” they pointed out.
Stakeholders opined this ambiguity has particularly left SMEs in a precarious position, with some arguing that the regulations unfairly target the F&B sector, while exempting personal care products such as toothpaste and soap.
The F&B industry categorically expressed its willingness to support food safety initiatives, but insists that the proposed regulations need significant revisions to ensure practicality.
Claiming that they did not get favourable responses to their request during the past two years, they call on the authorities to engage in meaningful consultations to develop a comprehensive framework that safeguards consumer interests without stifling business growth.
Failure to address these concerns, stakeholders warned, could lead to economic fallout and diminished global competitiveness for a sector vital to the country’s recovery and growth.
