Over one-third of grocery products listed on leading e-commerce platform have information discrepancies, finds Natfirst Study

Analysis of 2,871 packaged grocery products reveals labelling discrepancies including missing nutritional table, as per FSSAI norms

  In India, the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations mandate comprehensive labelling for pre-packaged foods. However, a recent study by Natfirst – a health and retail tech platform – reveals significant discrepancies in compliance. Data from an analysis of 2,871 grocery products listed on a leading Indian e-commerce platform revealed that 34.83% (which is around 1,000 grocery products) had incomplete information preventing consumers from making informed choices.

The NatFirst study found discrepancies such as differing net weights, barcode inconsistencies, poor-quality images, among others. Notably, issues were found 65 products were missing more than one of key fields (nutritional table, ingredients, net weight), 232 products had illegible images, and 139 products lacking a nutritional table.

The FSSAI also recently announced the re-operationalization of the draft Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Amendment Regulations, 2022. Currently as per the FSSAI, Ecommerce companies must adhere to specific labelling and display regulations for food products, ensuring that a clear image of the principal display panel of pre-packed foods is available to customers. Sellers must also display their FSSAI License or Registration on the platform. Additionally, food products can be sampled at any point in the supply chain.

“The findings underscore an urgent need for retail intelligence solutions that enable real-time adherence to FSSAI’s norms in order to ensure consumer safety and transparency. It also highlights the ongoing challenge of maintaining high-quality food labelling standards with millions of products being sold each month across diverse sales platforms, reinforcing the need for regulatory compliance in both domestic as well as international markets”, emphasised Ravi Putrevu, Founder, NatFirst and TruthIn.

India is currently the third largest packaged food market globally, according to EuroMonitor and the monthly eCommerce Grocery revenue of more than INR 6,800 Crore in July 2024 up 12.1% from June 2024, as per the ECDB.