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FSSAI gives high-caffeine drink brands 90 days to remove ‘energy drink’ labels
Our read
Energy-drink relabeling will become a retail reset: big brands preserve demand, but fragmented enforcement reshapes e-commerce visibility and shelf space.
For operators
Begin a 90-day cross-channel compliance sprint to replace “energy drink” packaging, update e-commerce listings and shelf signage, and prevent enforcement-led delistings, starting with Rajasthan.
Watch
FSSAI clarification on acceptable replacement terminology, label language, caffeine-warning format, and treatment of existing inventory.
Ask next
The report,
FSSAI has ordered high-caffeine beverage makers to remove 'energy drink' claims from labels, affecting Pepsi, Red Bull, Monster and Reliance. Companies have 90 days to comply, while Rajasthan has begun enforcement and restricted e-commerce promotion.
Reported figures
From the report. Source details below
| Energy drinks market projected at $1.6 billion by | 2028 |
|---|---|
| Sales volumes nearly doubled annually between 2018 and | 2023 |
Also in the report
- 12.6% projected annual growth
Why it matters for the brand
Build FSSAI labeling exposure, reformulation capability, packaging-change costs and state-level enforcement risk into beverage target diligence and valuation assumptions.
What to track next
- Additional state enforcement notices, especially in large consumption markets and states with active food-safety inspections.
- Amazon, Flipkart, quick-commerce, and grocery-platform changes to product titles, advertising eligibility, age gates, or category placement.
- Retailer requests for supplier indemnities, compliance certificates, revised barcodes, or new product-master data.
- Any move from terminology enforcement toward caffeine thresholds, serving-size caps, warning-label requirements, or restrictions on marketing to minors.
- Sales shifts from high-caffeine cans toward sports drinks, flavored water, cold coffee, energy shots, and lower-caffeine functional beverages.
Likely next moves
Our read of what comes next — analysis, not reported by the source.
- Audit all packaging, product titles, marketplace listings, search keywords, shelf tags, and retailer catalog taxonomy for prohibited 'energy drink' language.
- Prioritize Rajasthan inventory segregation and retailer communication to avoid enforcement-led delistings or blocked e-commerce promotions.
- Create replacement consumer messaging around taste, refreshment, performance, electrolytes, vitamins, or caffeine disclosure without making non-compliant health or energy claims.
- Prepare dual inventory plans: compliant packs for new dispatches and controlled sell-through, withdrawal, or relabeling procedures for legacy stock.
- Retailers should create a compliant caffeinated-beverages category rather than rely on legacy energy-drink navigation, planograms, and promotional filters.
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- Monitor whether competitors use the transition to gain shelf space through lower-caffeine, hydration, sports-drink, coffee, or functional-beverage positioning.
The counter-case
The case against this reading — not reported by the source.
The headline may overstate the commercial disruption. A 90-day relabelling window is manageable for large beverage companies with established packaging and compliance operations, and a shift from “energy drink” to a compliant descriptor may have limited effect on consumer demand, which is driven more by caffeine, taste, price and brand recognition than category wording. Enforcement could also remain state-specific and uneven, while retailers may continue selling existing inventory under transition provisions. Rajasthan’s e-commerce restrictions may not translate into a durable nationwide merchandising constraint.