The Government has revised its mandatory colour-coded sugar labelling regulations for beverages, introducing an alternative logo for glass bottles, extending implementation provisions for existing bottles, and exempting certain business-to-business food products.
The amendments, issued under the Food Act by Minister of Health and Mass Media Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, have been published in an Extraordinary Gazette and apply to sugar-containing liquid food products.
Under the regulations, beverages containing more than 8 grams of sugar per 100 millilitres must display a red label, those containing between 2.5 and 8 grams an amber label, and products with less than 2.5 grams a green label, enabling consumers to easily identify sugar content.
The amendments introduce an alternative circular version of the colour-coded logo for glass bottles where there is insufficient space to display the standard rectangular label. The regulations also extend until 2026 the provision allowing existing glass bottles to display the sugar logo on the bottle cap or closure.
In addition, the regulations exempt business-to-business food products intended solely for further processing, preparation or resale, rather than direct sale to consumers.
The sugar thresholds and the red, amber and green colour-coding system remain unchanged.
The revised regulations were published in the Extraordinary Gazette dated June 23. (Newswire)
