India, Sept. 16 -- India is in the middle of its biggest food-regulation crackdown in years, and the Supreme Court has now weighed in.

During a hearing on September 10, the apex court intervened on what a mandatory front-of-pack warning label should look like. It told the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) that its proposed red hexagon symbol for packaged foods high in sugar, salt or saturated fat was broadly acceptable in principle, but that several important details were still unclear.

The bench said it was "concerned with the health of people, more particularly growing children". It directed FSSAI to file a response affidavit within 10 days, addressing everything from the scientific basis for its thresholds to the s...