Such Products Are Not Only Sub-standard But Also Misrepresented, As They Are Labeled Under Standard Categories

India's food safety regulator has issued notices to several alcoholic beverage manufacturers for adding artificial flavors to products such as rum and whisky, saying the practice misleads consumers and violates regulations. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) reiterated on Sunday that additives cannot be used to deceive consumers, and its standards are designed to ensure the chemical composition of such beverages remains true to their raw material origins. The regulator said it found that some manufacturers are externally adding flavors that mimic a product's inherent aroma and taste but are sold as standard products, which misleads consumers.

"The potential need for the addition of such flavour is observed due to an existing malpractice wherein manufacturers, instead of creating products through maturation and/or from base materials such as molasses, malt, or grapes to develop their flavour naturally, use spirit/neutral alcohol primarily, which has no specific flavour and therefore add flavour externally, FSSAI said. Such products are not only sub-standard but also misrepresented, as they are labeled under standard categories. "At best, they can be identified as Rum-flavoured Spirit or Whisky-flavoured Spirit, etc.

Further, the front-of-the-pack completely fails to disclose the true nature of the product, it added. Lab reports from testing samples of these products stated that "the addition of artificial flavours is masking its natural flavour and making the product substandard. Failing to name these products as "flavoured or premix rum" on the label may mislead or deceive consumers, the statement added.

FSSAI stressed that the use of natural and nature-identical flavouring substances is permissible under applicable regulations. "The present matter, however, does not pertain to a prohibition on the use of flavouring substances. Rather, it concerns the practice adopted by certain manufacturers of adding the flavour of the standardized alcoholic beverage itself, for instance, the addition of rum flavour in rum or whisky flavour in whisky, it said.

FSSAI has issued prohibition of sale orders to certain manufacturers, including Mohan Rocky Springwater's Khopoli unit, United Spirits in Baramati and Madhya Pradesh, INBREW Beverages in Madhya Pradesh, and Associated Alcohols & Breweries in Madhya Pradesh. Notices have also been issued in Goa and to six other manufacturers in Maharashtra, while two players received conditional revocation to sell existing stocks after making changes to front-of-pack labels. The regulator also raised concerns about deceptive age claims regarding the maturation stage of these products.

Noting that this issue is not representative of the entire industry, FSSAI added that several manufacturers continue to make standardized alcohol beverage products in compliance with prescribed standards. It further noted that certain manufacturers are producing beverages predominantly from neutral alcohol or extra neutral alcohol, which inherently lacks the characteristic flavour profile, and then introducing identical or artificial flavouring substances to recreate such characteristics. "It is also noteworthy that there is no internationally recognized manufacturing practice whereby rum flavour is added to rum or whisky flavour is added to whisky for the purpose of generating the defining sensory characteristics of standardized alcoholic beverages, FSSAI added."