ORS Label on Energy Drinks: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued a strict direction to use the term ORS (Oral Rehydration Salts) on energy drinks and other beverages that do not come under the WHO standards. This has now been in the strict direction after an eight-year legal battle by pediatrician Dr. Sivaranjani Santosh of Hyderabad.

These directions are issued on October 14th, 2025, require that any previous approvals that permitted food business operators (FBOs) to use “ORS” as a trademark, as a stand-alone term, or in conjunction with prefixes or suffixes, be immediately revoked. In accordance with the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006, “all food business operators are directed to remove the word ‘ORS’ from their products and ensure strict compliance with labelling and advertising requirements.”

Additionally, on July 14, 2022, and February 2, 2024, the FSSAI reversed two previous directives that permitted the use of “ORS” in products as long as they were accompanied by disclaimers such as “The product is not an ORS formula as recommended by WHO.”

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In their thorough explanation, the food safety regulatory authority stated that it is against the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and its associated laws to use the term “ORS” in the name of any food product, whether it is fruit-based, non-carbonated, or ready-to-drink. They claimed that such labeling violates many Act requirements since it “misleads consumers by way of false, deceptive, ambiguous, and erroneous names or label declarations.”

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was launched in 2022 before the Telangana High Court by Dr. Sivaranjani Santosh, whose unrelenting effort started about ten years ago, contesting the sale of beverages that were mislabeled as ORS while having dangerously high sugar levels and incorrect electrolyte balances. WHO recommendations state that 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 liter are necessary for a good ORS solution. Numerous items sold as ORS had dangerously low electrolytes and more than 120 g of sugar per liter.

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