India Tightens Grip On Junk Food Near Schools, Moves Towards Sales Curbs

India is moving toward rules that would curb sales of high-fat and high-sugar foods within 50 metres of schools. The proposal is meant to slow junk-food consumption in a country where obesity, especially among children, is rising. It would cover about India's 1.5 million schools and affect a long list of snacks and meals sold nearby.

The measure could also become another obstacle for multinationals such as PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Mondelez and Nestle, which already face proposed red-warning labels on products high in fat, salt and sugar, or HFSS. It would bring India closer to markets such as Chile and Mexico that have tougher food-safety rules.

What The Rule Covers

The proposal reaches beyond school canteens and into nearby streets. It would apply to family-run stores, restaurants and food stalls that sell everything from sugary soft drinks and salty chips to greasy samosas and fatty pizzas or burgers close to schools.

Those items would face limits near schools, not only inside school grounds. Retailers are already worried. In Bhubaneswar, a dozen shopkeepers told Reuters they feared sales could fall by a third or more if the restrictions take effect. For small outlets that depend on student footfall, that could change daily business sharply.

Children's Eating Habits

One school-day purchase captures the issue. Fifteen-year-old Priyanshu Palei bought two packets of PepsiCo's Uncle Chipps and stuffed them into his backpack on the way to class.

“I will have these during recess,” Palei said, preferring them to his mother's packed lunch of rice and lentil stew. Reuters reported that the snack purchase reflected the sort of routine the regulator wants to change through its “safe food” schools plan.

Rajit Punhani, the chief executive of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, told Reuters the aim was to shift habits early. “We have to discourage children from having these. We have to inculcate this habit,” he said. He added, “It will not have an impact on businesses in a major way. Shop owners can sell non-HFSS foods,” and said the rules are also meant to push companies to reformulate recipes.

There is no fixed timeline for the law, first proposed in 2020. As part of a broader food-safety crackdown, the authority published thresholds in August for fat, salt and sugar content that would trigger restrictions near and inside schools, and it is accepting public feedback until October 6.

Obesity And Demand

Packaged and fast foods have spread fast in India. In recent years, products from Lay’s chips to Cadbury chocolates and Maggi noodles have become more popular across income groups.

Some lower-income consumers see foreign brands as a sign of a better lifestyle, while cheap prices also pull demand. In 2023, Domino’s launched what Reuters described as its cheapest pizza in the world in India at 49 rupees, or 50 US cents.

The health backdrop is worsening. The number of Indian children aged 5-19 who are overweight or obese rose from 28 million in 2015 to 41 million by 2025, according to World Obesity Federation data. The figure is expected to reach 56 million by 2040. That trend is driving the case for tougher curbs around schools.

State Enforcement Push

Maharashtra is taking a tougher line. The western state, home to Mumbai, is enforcing the rule more strictly than the federal proposal.

Reuters reported that the central plan is meant to stop shops near schools from selling and advertising HFSS products only to schoolchildren. Maharashtra, however, has gone further, state food safety commissioner Tukaram Mundhe told Reuters that no shop within 50 metres of schools can carry such products.

“There will be hundreds of such shops near schools. How will one regulate if they are selling to schoolchildren or not? Shops cannot stock these items,” Mundhe said. State data accessed by Reuters showed inspectors had found violations at 133 shops within 50 metres of schools and officials ordered 51 of them to stop trading.

Industry Pushback

Trade groups and companies are pushing back. The Confederation of Indian Food Trade and Industry said in a confidential draft submission reviewed by Reuters that compliance would be difficult because many schools sit near crowded markets serving the wider public.

The group's draft said the law could cause “loss of business and livelihood.” It argued that restrictions should apply only inside schools. The trade body did not respond to Reuters queries.

Companies have answered unevenly. PepsiCo referred Reuters to its global policy on products sold in schools. Nestle said it follows a global policy that allows only products meeting specific nutrition criteria in primary and secondary schools. Coca-Cola and Mondelez did not respond to Reuters queries.

Law firms are hearing the anxiety too. Rahul Khanna, a food regulations specialist at RAKLaw, told Reuters there was a “wave of concern” among clients, especially confectionery makers, because children are an “important consumer segment”.

Global experience offers both a benchmark and a warning for industry. Reuters reported, citing researchers at the University of North Carolina, that five countries have proposed or implemented sales restrictions around schools, while 48 have restricted junk food sales inside schools. Chile imposed warning-label and school-sales rules in 2016, and also banned the sale and promotion of junk food in schools. A Lancet study this year found that 18 months of exposure to Chile’s law lowered the probability of excess weight by 2.85% among girls and 2.4% among boys.

The Chile law also pushed manufacturers to change recipes. “If the law were ineffective and consumers did not change their behaviour, producers would not push back,” Guillermo Paraje, a professor at Adolfo Ibanez Business School in Chile, said. “They know the law will make them reformulate as much as they can.”