India and the United Kingdom have signed their Free Trade Agreement (FTA), with the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal, and the British Business and Trade Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, signing the deal on July 24, 2025, during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the U.K. On July 22, 2025, the Union Cabinet, Government of India had approved the FTA. Officially called the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, this FTA was first announced on the conclusion of negotiations on May 6, 2025.
The India-U.K. FTA is good news from the economic perspectives of both countries. However, the FTA could pose a public health challenge for India. It will allow tariff-free entry — and thus lower prices — for U.K.-made food products such as biscuits, chocolates and soft drinks in India, many of which would fit into the categorisation of High Fat, Sugar and Salt (HFSS), posing grave long-term health risks. Cheaper prices supplemented by the expected aggressive marketing and advertising campaigns could prove harmful from the point of view of the health of citizens.
The case of Mexico
Concerns about the FTA and its adverse public health impact are not hypothetical. In 1992, when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed between Mexico, the United States and Canada, Mexico made the mistake of not implementing robust public health safeguards. In the years that followed, Mexico experienced the following: a dramatic rise in imports of cheap, sugary drinks, snacks and processed foods; a surge in the consumption of HFSS food products, and a steep rise in diet-related diseases, obesity and diabetes. Mexico could halt the rise in the sale of HFSS products and manage lifestyle diseases only when it introduced stringent public health regulatory mechanisms such as a ‘Soda Tax’ and warning labels upfront in 2014.
From a public health viewpoint, the India-U.K. FTA is a concern for India. While the sale of unhealthy food products in the U.K. is relatively better regulated, the regulatory framework is sub-optimal in India. For example, the U.K. has implemented a ban on the advertising of HFSS products on television and online. The ban on such TV advertisements before 9 p.m., and a complete ban on paid online advertisements for HFSS products will come into effect on October 1, 2025. Similarly, the U.K.’s traffic light Front-of-Pack Nutrition Labelling (FOPNL) system uses a colour-coded system to help consumers quickly understand the nutritional content of packaged foods and drinks. For example, green indicates low levels of fat, saturated fat, sugar, and salt, amber indicates medium, while red indicates high. This system helps consumers make healthier choices.
India lacks binding restrictions on junk food advertisements targeting children; the existing regulations are not effectively enforced and routinely flouted. India relies on self-regulation through the Advertising Standards Council of India, which is an industry body. There is ample evidence that in the food sector ‘industry self-regulation’ is rarely and partially effective. There are a few regulations that prohibit misleading advertisements, i.e., the Advertising Code of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting; however, regulatory bodies are often unable to identify misleading advertisements or, if done so, no penalty is assigned. The cartoon mascots on food products targeted at children on the one hand and celebrity endorsements on the other normalise unhealthy choices. The use of celebrities and sportspersons are key to these tactics. Many of these celebrities have privately acknowledged that they do not use the products which they publicly promote and advertise. Yet, such deceitful behaviour has never resulted in social or public outrage.
The problem with India’s ‘star rating’
In India, the issue of a mandatory FOPNL is pending for want of a decision on the right type of labels and amendments under the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020. While evidence from various studies is that all types of warning labels help in reducing the consumption of HFSS, the most effective are the use of warning labels. Yet, Indian authorities are more interested in the use of “star rating”, which could be misleading and less effective. Therefore, the process of introducing a warning system on packaged food is slow. For example, in September 2022, there were proposed amendments to introduce mandatory warning labels. Yet, three years later, the amendments remain on paper. After a Public Interest Litigation in April 2025, the Supreme Court of India has directed the authorities to make a decision on warning labels in a time-bound manner. Many independent subject experts believe that a part of the reason for the delay in the adoption of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)’s 2022 draft regulations for FOPNL is because of industry lobbying — this has diluted the proposals, opting for “star ratings” that are confusing instead of clear warnings such as Chile’s black octagonal labels (when ‘food products exceed certain thresholds of sugar, sodium, saturated fat, and/or calories’).
India and many parts of the world are already facing a challenge of rising lifestyle diseases. In March 2025, The Lancet published two studies which indicated that obesity is on the rise across large parts of the world. Ultra Processed Food (UPF) and HFSS food items have witnessed a CAGR of 13.3%, in India, from 2011-21. Not surprisingly, the burden of lifestyle diseases such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension is rising at an alarming rate, in all age groups — more so in children and adolescents. A position statement on FOPNL in India, released in June 2025 and signed by 29 organisations, provided comprehensive evidence on the harmful effects of HFSS and UPF; it also advocated having warning labels being a mandatory part of HFSS and UPF packages.
Commercial activities, i.e., trade and treaties have been integral part of human life and the economic ambitions of nations. The FTAs have economic benefits and multiple rationales. However, getting cheaper junk food as a result of an FTA can be costly in public health terms. These apprehensions are founded in sound global evidence. In fact, in the last decade, global health agencies have begun talking about the Commercial Determinants of Health — the conditions, actions and omissions by commercial actors that affect health.
There is news that India may sign another deal, the India-European Free Trade Agreement Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), involving Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, in October 2025. Trade deals and FTAs are likely to be signed with some more countries. They could be good for the economy, but from the point of view of public health they could prove to be the Trojan horses of non-communicable diseases, unless sufficient safe-guards are implemented. There is a need to balance the economic benefits of FTAs with the need to protect public health and ensure restrictions on the marketing and labelling of food products.
It is still not late
Now that the India-U.K. FTA has been signed, the legal text will be drafted in the weeks ahead, and this is the opportunity for India to make the right move, it needs to act immediately to mitigate the FTA’s public health impact. It is time for strong measures to regulate the advertising of HFSS, as also suggested in the Economic Survey 2024-25 and in line with the recent ‘Dietary Guidelines for Indians’, published by the National Institute of Nutrition in May 2024. The mandatory FOPNL in the form of warning labels should be implemented at the earliest. The proposed ‘sugar boards’ and ‘Oil Boards’ in schools are a good entry point to having ‘health promoting schools. However, ‘a more holistic approach of ‘HFSS boards’ needs to be considered. School meals and school college canteens should stop the sale of packaged and unhealthy food items. Protective measures must be implemented with urgency to counter the potential effects of current and future FTAs. Public health practitioners and health policymakers need to be more engaged on issues that are related to trade deals, and when it comes to ultra-processed food and high fat, salt and sugar food. It is an issue of public health, which affects nearly every Indian in every age group, and a subject that must be treated with urgency.
Dr. Chandrakant Lahariya is a practising physician who has worked with the World Health Organization and other United Nations agencies for nearly 17 years. Dr. Arun Gupta is a paediatrician and the lead of Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest–India (NAPi)
Published – July 25, 2025 12:16 am IST