The government revises sugar labeling laws for beverages.

The government has updated the color-coded sugar labeling regulations that were mandatory for beverages in Sri Lanka. These amendments have been made under the Food Act by the Minister of Health and Mass Media, Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, with the agreement of the Food Advisory Committee.

This has been announced through an extraordinary gazette notification issued on June 23, further changing the rules introduced in 2023. This new measure involves changing packaging requirements, extending the period for enforcing the rules, and subjecting food products used for business activities to this regulation.

In accordance with the new regulations, every beverage must display a specific color logo based on the percentage of sugar contained within a 100ml serving. Accordingly, if the sugar content is more than 8 grams, a red logo is mandatory; if the sugar content is between 2.5 and 8 grams, an amber or yellow logo must be used. If the sugar content in a beverage is less than 2.5 grams, a green logo should be applied.

These new rules also introduce a special alternative logo design for glass bottles that do not have sufficient space to display the standard logo. For these alternative logos, specific minimum size requirements have been stipulated, and it is essential that the numerical sugar value contained in the beverage is clearly indicated in all three languages: Sinhala, Tamil, and English.

Additionally, products not intended for direct sale to consumers but supplied for further food processing, preparation, or resale are newly defined here as "business-to-business food products." Accordingly, all products in this category will also be included under this new sugar labeling legal framework.