Nestlé India responds to FSSAI legal action over infant milk labels

INDIA – Nestlé India has said its infant nutrition products fully comply with applicable food safety regulations, responding to legal action initiated by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) over promotional claims and other alleged violations involving three of its products.

A company spokesperson said its NAN EXCELLA PRO and LACTOGEN PRO products, along with their labels, had already been approved by an expert committee constituted by FSSAI, and that the company had since submitted a detailed response to the regulator’s notice.

Nestlé India’s statement comes days after FSSAI announced that it had initiated legal action against the company over alleged non-compliances relating to its infant nutrition products, marking a fresh regulatory flashpoint in India’s closely watched infant food sector.

According to FSSAI, the action followed an examination of two products, NAN EXCELLA PRO Stage 1 and LACTOGEN PRO 1, along with promotional material found on e-commerce platforms selling the products.

The regulator said it had specifically flagged claims relating to 5human milk oligosaccharides) and whey protein made for NAN LACTOGEN PRO Stage 1, while LACTOGEN PRO 1 carried a claim describing its whey protein as easy to digest.

FSSAI said it had sought clarifications from Nestlé India regarding these claims, but on examining the company’s response, concluded that both products were in contravention of Regulation of the Food Safety and Standards (Foods for Infant Nutrition) Regulations, 2020.

This provision restricts promotional claims or material aimed at increasing the sale of infant foods, a safeguard built into Indian food law to prevent commercial messaging from influencing infant feeding choices.

The regulator additionally invoked Section 3 of the Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles and Infant Foods Act, 1992, a standalone statute that expressly prohibits the advertisement and promotion of infant milk substitutes and infant foods, reflecting long-standing public health concerns over the marketing of such products to consumers.

In a separate finding, FSSAI said a sample of a follow-up formula manufactured by Nestlé India had been found sub-standard with respect to its Biotin content during laboratory analysis.

The regulator said this result was subsequently confirmed after the sample was sent to a referral laboratory, which also found that it did not conform to the prescribed Biotin requirement, an essential micronutrient specification under Indian food safety norms for infant formula.

Taken together, FSSAI said the findings had led it to file three separate adjudication cases against Nestlé India, one for each of the three products under scrutiny.

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