Popular drink Horlicks has been removed from the 'health drink' category. Hindustan Unilever has renamed its 'health food drinks' category as 'functional nutritional drinks' (FND). This comes after the Ministry of Commerce and Industry asked e-commerce websites to remove drinks and beverages from 'healthy drinks' category on their platform.
Talking about the change, chief financial officer of Hindustan Unilever Ritesh Tiwari said, "We have changed the labels of the category to FND which is a much better way to call it."
The CFO revealed that Hindustan Unilever will focus on increasing customers, increasing usage, and giving more benefits for consumers to upgrade in the FND category. He also said that the company is seeing better growth in its premium FND range which caters to Diabetes and women's health.
On April 2, FSSAI asked all e-commerce companies to ensure appropriate categorisation of food products sold on their websites. Even another popular drink Bournvita was removed from the 'health drink' category.
"Therefore, FSSAI has advised all e-commerce companies to promptly rectify this misclassification by removing or de-linking such drinks or beverages from the category of ‘health drinks/energy drinks’ on their websites and placing such products in the appropriate category as provided under the extant law," a statement read.
Also watch: No more Bournvita on e-commerce websites, Centre issues new order. Details here