An eight-year-long legal battle by Hyderabad-based paediatrician Dr Sivaranjani Santosh, has resulted in the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) finally issuing a landmark directive restricting the use of the term ‘ORS’ (Oral Rehydration Salts) on energy drinks and other beverages that do not meet World Health Organization (WHO) standards.
The orders, issued on October 14, mandate the immediate withdrawal of all prior permissions allowing food business operators (FBOs) to use ‘ORS’ as part of their brand names, whether as a standalone term, in combination with prefixes or suffixes, or as a trademark. “All food business operators are directed to remove the word ‘ORS’ from their products and ensure strict compliance with labelling and advertising requirements prescribed under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006,” the directive stated.
FSSAI also revoked two earlier orders—dated July 14, 2022, and February 2, 2024—which had allowed products to use ‘ORS’ if accompanied by disclaimers like “The product is not an ORS formula as recommended by WHO.”
The food safety governing body in its detailed clarification said that the use of ‘ORS’ in any food product’s name, whether fruit-based, non-carbonated, or ready-to-drink, violates the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and related regulations. They said that such labelling ‘misleads consumers by way of false, deceptive, ambiguous, and erroneous names or label declarations,’ and therefore contravenes multiple provisions under the Act.
Dr Sivaranjani Santosh, whose relentless campaign began nearly a decade ago, filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in 2022 before the Telangana High Court challenging the sale of beverages falsely marketed as ORS despite having dangerously high sugar levels and improper electrolyte balances. According to WHO guidelines, a proper ORS solution should contain 2.6 g of sodium chloride, 1.5 g of potassium chloride, 2.9 g of sodium citrate, and 13.5 g of dextrose per litre. Many products marketed as ORS contained over 120 g of sugar per litre and dangerously low electrolytes.
An emotional Sivarajani, who is popular on Instagram, said, “It has been eight years since I persisted, and I have won it.” Thanking everyone who supported her cause, she said: “No high sugar drinks can have ORS on its label anymore, and they cannot sell a single drink from here on.”
Recently, Dr Sivaranjani had intensified her campaign against the misleading unhealthy products following the deaths of several children in Maharashtra and Rajasthan who consumed contaminated cough syrups.