Pod Insights Finshots Daily When ORS didn’t mean ORS About this episode In today’s episode on 25th November 2025, we explain how sugary drinks are finally banned from calling themselves ORS and why it took so long for the ban to finally be implemented on all energy drinks, ready-to-serve drinks and electrolyte beverages.
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Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 Hello folks, you're tuned into Finshots Daily and in today's episode, we explain how sugary drinks are finally banned from calling themselves ORS and why it took so long for the ban to finally be implemented on all energy drinks, ready-to-serve drinks and electrolyte beverages.
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1:02 Speaker 00 Last night's dinner didn't sit well, meaning your child might have spent the morning vomiting or with an upset tummy. Every parent knows the drill. You rush to a pharmacy and ask for the only thing the World Health Organization says truly works: ORS. Sitting camouflaged in the middle of the apothecary of medicinal aids is a harmless-looking Tetra Pack with a printed picture of a fruit with the tag ORSL. And even when you clearly ask the pharmacist to hand you an ORS, chances are, they'd be giving you the ORS adjacent products. Unaware, there's a difference. For years, this is how many Indian parents ended up giving a sugar-filled drink to their children,
1:46 Speaker 00 unaware that they were just calling themselves ORS or using clever wordplay to mimic the real thing. On the outside, they looked soundly and even packaged themselves to look real harmlessly sitting in every pharmacy in the country. The reality was, these weren't really ORS. According to WHO, an ORS is an oral rehydration salt used to treat dehydration. Being dehydrated itself might sound harmless, but it's not the hot summer day or 5K run type that we're talking about. Think actual problems from bad food and other stomach issues, which are actually fatal among children 5 years old and below. And the problem was these sugary drinks were ORS in posters.
2:29 Speaker 00 The companies marketed them as something you could use for everyday rehydration, not necessarily for diarrhea, which they conveniently wrote at the back of the pack. But let's be honest, how many of us actually read labels carefully back then? So in a moment when the body desperately needed electrolytes and salts to recover it, it ended up getting a flavored sugary juice instead. And that only made things worse. At that point, your body knew something was wrong, but your mind was confused, because all the steps are followed: medicines on time, light food, hot water, the whole nine yards basically. So, nobody could understand how or why things were going sideways. That's when around 2016 or 17, Dr.
3:14 Speaker 00 Shivaranjini Santosh started looking into it herself. The Hyderabad-based doctor was just one among the many doctors who saw parents giving children these drinks unknowingly. Those ORS-adjusted drinks also contained far more sugar than the WHO-recommended ORS formula. So, this was not just mislabeling, the drinks were nowhere near what they mimicked. For context, according to WHO, an ORS should have just 1.35 grams of sugar per 100 ml. Those ORS-adjusted drinks had about 11 grams for the same quantity. Seeing this, Dr. Shivaranjini started her campaign around the same time and began filing RDI petitions,
3:56 Speaker 00 wrote to ministries, worked on public awareness and of course, uprooted the courts as well. In all that time, the pseudo ORS drinks were still allowed to be sold, showcased and self-labeled as an ORS. Imagine you're in the shower on hair wash day. In the steamy mist, your hand reaches for the shampoo, but you actually grab the conditioner instead. Now, normally, that's just an annoying start to your morning. But in the case of an ORSL-style drinks, the stakes were much higher than a bad hair day. Which leads to the real question. How were these drinks allowed to sit right next to certified medical-grade ORS and pharmacies? Well, it starts with the red tape.
4:39 Speaker 00 If you're selling a WHO standard medicinal aid or drug, then that product comes under the CDSCO or Central Drug Standard Control Organisation and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act of 1940. All drugs sold in India must be safe, effective and meet quality standards. That means, to call something a medicinal product, you need trials, testing, pre-market approval and registration. It's what stops anyone from claiming what they're selling is medicine or therapeutic in nature. But since these weren't registered medicinal products, because they were sold as foods despite calling themselves ORS, they didn't have to follow those drug regulations. Instead, they came under FSSAI as food items.
5:24 Speaker 00 Until very recently, that distinction wasn't fully clear or enforced even by regulators themselves. Complaints bounced between both regulators, slowing any outcome. This is what Dr. Santosh experienced in 2021 and 22 when she contacted CDSCO and posted on social media to keep the pressure up. To make matters even more confusing, FSSAI itself jumped back and forth. For instance, back in April 2022, the regulator issued its first strong warning about the misuse of ORS in drinks. Finally, FSSAI acknowledged the problem. That would have been the end of it, except just three months later in July, they pulled back the order. The difference?
6:06 Speaker 00 The drink companies were allowed to continue using ORS-style branding with a small disclaimer. You've probably seen it. This product is not an ORS formula as recommended by WHO. Also, older brand owners who already had trademarks might still use the ORS wording in their label. This set a dangerous precedent because guess who already owned these ORS-style trademarks? Large corporations with deep pockets. For instance, JNTL Consumer Health already owned the brand ORSL, which fought hard to protect its trademark before the new rules came in. Even until the end, they fought tooth and nail to get the last batch, sized at about 180 crore rupees, sold before the new rules came into effect.
6:51 Speaker 00 Another big brand, Dr. Eddie's Laboratories, for its rebalanced Vitor's drink, also challenged FSSI directives in court. Both approached courts, securing interim reliefs while they cleared the old stock away. This felt like loss in a way and it genuinely raised questions about food safety, but here's why the courts allowed this to happen. Usually, regulators don't ban products overnight without giving the manufacturer above a period to sell old stock, provided they don't produce and sell any more of it. This lessens the outcome of being sued by manufacturer on grounds of legal reversal and unfair losses. And indeed, by the old rules, the manufacturers were technically compliant.
7:33 Speaker 00 The old stock was made when the rules allowed them to, so they weren't breaking any laws. But things like buffer period, pushback and legal technicalities can't delay what's inevitable, the overall health of public. After nearly eight years of warnings from doctors, complaints from parents and repeated reminders that ORS is a life-saving medical formulation, the regulator finally acted decisively. In October 2025, FSSI issued what would become the turning point. It issued a landmark order withdrawing all earlier permissions that had allowed food and beverage products to use the term ORS as part of their branding. This time, the writing was as clear as day. No food or drink can use the term ORS,
8:18 Speaker 00 whether as a trademark, prefix, suffix, or part of the product name, unless it meets the WHO recommended ORS formulation, which is classified as a drug. But, a ruling is only as strong as its enforcement, and the companies weren't ready to go down without a fight. Only this time, the Delhi High Court didn't blink. About two weeks after FSSAI's order, the court upheld the order, public health it seemed, won over corporate profits. In the weeks that followed the ruling, state authorities have started pulling the non-compliant products off shelves and e-commerce platforms, and there you have it folks, the ORS saga. A messy eight-year ride, ending in a landmark win that doesn't just fix one label.
9:02 Speaker 00 It sets the tone for how food safety will evolve in India. Alright folks, I will see you tomorrow. Until then, have a tremendous Tuesday.
9:13 Speaker 00 Thank you for listening to today's episode. And if you want to share your feedback or suggestions, do drop us an email to [email protected] . Until next time.
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