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Rep Power: 3 |  Coke to soon contain calorie info
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NEW DELHI: Coca-Cola India will print calorie information on the front-pack labels of all its beverages from next year, in line with a move by its parent company, which is trying to avert a possible soft drink tax in the US.
The move, a first in the beverages industry, will help increase awareness about nutrition and help consumers manage their energy intake, the company said, terming the move as ‘leadership responsibility’. The world’s largest soft drink maker plans to implement ‘nutritional labelling’ across 200 countries where it has a presence. Soft drink makers have always drawn criticism for selling fizzy and sugary drinks that result in weight gain.
In India, labels will be put on all Coca-Cola beverages — aerated drinks Coca-Cola, Thums Up, Sprite, Limca, Fanta, juice drinks Maaza and Minute Maid and packaged water Kinley.
All packs of Coca-Cola beverages — PET bottles, Tetra Pak cartons and cans — will be re-labelled with detailed nutritional information. Returnable glass bottles, however, have been exempted from the initiative, as it would involve technical complications, the company said. The company will include energy information per serving on the front of its product packages, a Coca-Cola India spokesman said.
“In India, though we already provide nutritional information on all our packages, providing front-of-pack energy information will make it easier for consumers to see it on the store shelf before making a purchase decision,” he said.
It is not clear how the move will impact sales in India. Unlike the US, where beverage sales are slowing, Indian market is witnessing a surge in sales. Coca-Cola India posted a 33% growth in unit case volumes during the April-June 2009 quarter, cycling a 6% growth in the year-ago quarter. This was its 12th straight quarter of growth in India.
A combination of factors has led to the growth — investments in bottling lines, coolers and trucks, consolidating bottling operations, raising distribution footprint by tapping smaller tier-2 and tier-3 towns and cities, introduction of beverages in multiple pack sizes and localised marketing.
The new labels will involve a substantial cost, as it will mean replacing labels of all products and setting up a new printing infrastructure at all its 56 bottling plants. The costs of the new labelling exercise still need to be worked out, the company spokesperson said.
In India, the decision to put nutritional labelling upfront will be irrespective of the upcoming integrated food law, which is putting in place a series of mandatory guidelines for food and beverage companies.
Rival PepsiCo India also prints some ingredient information on packs, but not on front labels. In 2007, PepsiCo had kicked off a damage-repair exercise to counter falling sales after pesticide controversies in 2003 and 2006. In a first for it anywhere in the world, PepsiCo had put a quality assurance seal across all its product labels. Called ‘one quality worldwide’, the seal appears on labels of PepsiCo beverages, such as Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Mirinda, Nimbooz, Tropicana, Gatorade and Aquafina water.
Depending on country-specific regulations, the label information may also include percent daily guidance indicators to show how the quantities of select nutrients fit into the national or regional dietary guidelines.
Coca-Cola plans to print calorie information on the front of all its packages worldwide by 2011-end. It has already rolled out the initiative in Europe and Australia and Mexico and the US are in roll-out phase.
| Coke to soon contain calorie info- Food-Cons. Products-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times |
10-05-09, 01:53 PM
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