MUMBAI: E-commerce companies will classify beverage mixes and drinks such as Bournvita, Horlicks and Boost as ‘nutrition drinks’ following a government advisory against marketing them as ‘health drinks’, a category that does not exist under food regulations. I started doing it. , BigBasket has started removing ‘health drinks’ as a search term from its platform. Full compliance takes time, given the huge product lists and changes that companies have to make on the back end, so other companies’ websites and apps still allow consumers to label certain beverages as “healthy.” You’re likely to find it labeled “Beverage.” industry executives told TOI. Not only e-commerce platforms, but even consumer goods companies are internally changing product positioning to comply with government directives. Hindustan Unilever currently classifies its brands Horlicks and Boost internally as ‘functional energy drinks’. Until the December quarter, these brands were labeled as health food beverages in investor presentations. “We have changed the label to functional nutrition as per the need, which I also believe is the right…better way to call this category,” said HUL’s CEO and MD. I did. Rohit Jawa. “We believe this category of functional nutrition has a huge role to play in our communities because of micronutrient deficiencies and the opportunity to provide consumers with adequate levels of daily nutrients across all income ranges.” “Secondly, we don’t have deep market penetration. There is still an opportunity to grow this category,” said Jawa, adding that the company expects Boost and Horlicks to continue to grow in popularity. He added that Company officials said there will be no change in the way the products are packaged because they have never labeled Horlicks and Boost Pack as health drinks. When it comes to the e-commerce space, executives say app changes are being implemented more quickly, but take time to be reflected on the website. On the BigBasket website, the Horlicks Millet Chocolate listing is described as a malt-based food beverage as well as a health food beverage. On the Swiggy Instamart app, the listing for Horlicks Classic Malt Refill Drink Mix describes it as ‘The Ultimate Healthy Nutritional Drink for Kids’. Walmart’s Flipkart said the “reclassification” is still in progress. A company spokesperson said: “We are already working with brands on the health drink listing directive.” Amazon already brands most of its products as “nutrition” drinks or, in some cases, malt-based food drinks. According to company officials, the term “health drink” is no longer used. Questions sent to Swiggy, Zepto and Blinkit remain unanswered. “BigBasket has removed health drinks from the category and also from search terms and product descriptions,” a company spokesperson said.
