Nutri-Level Labelling Policy for Packaged Sugary Drinks Deemed Ambiguous
The Chairman of the Indonesian Empowered Consumers Forum (FKBI), Tulus Abadi, has assessed the nutri-level labelling system for sweetened beverage products as an ambiguous and half-hearted policy. Tulus questions the Ministry of Health’s alignment with public interests.
The regulation on implementing sugar content labelling for ready-to-drink products is outlined in the Minister of Health’s Decree Number HK.01.07/MENKES/301/2026 concerning the Labelling of Nutrition and Health Messages on Processed Ready-to-Eat Foods. This regulation was officially signed on Tuesday, 14 April 2026.
“On the surface, the Ministry of Health’s efforts appear positive. However, upon deeper examination, the policy seems compromising and even ambiguous,” Tulus stated, as quoted from a written press release on Saturday, 18 April 2026.
Upon closer inspection, Tulus said, the policy is compromising because it leans more towards industry interests. According to him, since the inception of this policy, the Ministry of Health has frequently faced pressure from the food and beverage industry.
Tulus believes that if the Ministry of Health were not intimidated by industry pressure, the nutritional content labelling should be more stringent and clear. “It should be placed on the front of the packaging, not just a mere micro nutri-level information,” Tulus said.
Tulus stated that the nutri-level policy is insufficient or even ineffective in reducing the prevalence of various degenerative diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, and coronary heart disease. For Tulus, this policy should be transitional. “In the future, within two years, it must be upgraded with a stronger policy,” he said.
Furthermore, Tulus continued, the nutri-level labelling policy for processed ready-to-eat food products would have more teeth if accompanied by fiscal policies, namely the imposition of excise duties as mandated by Government Regulation (PP) Number 28 of 2024 concerning the Implementation of Law Number 17 of 2023 on Health.
“One of them is the imposition of excise on MBDK (Packaged Sweetened Beverages),” Tulus said.
Regarding the excise on MBDK, he stated that the Ministry of Finance should take consistent policy steps. This is because the policy plan has been in the works since 2022.
Tulus remarked that state revenue from the tax sector is under severe pressure. Meanwhile, the state budget (APBN) for the first quarter of 2026 experienced a deficit of up to Rp 250 trillion. Therefore, Tulus said, the government should seize this moment to generate state revenue by imposing excise on MBDK.
The Ministry of Health, together with the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency (BPOM), has begun implementing the nutri-level labelling system for sweetened beverage products.
Nutri-level is a mechanism for classifying food or beverages based on sugar, salt, and fat content. This policy aims to make it easier for the public to identify the nutritional content of food consumed daily.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that with this policy, the public is expected to control sugar consumption independently, thereby avoiding risks of diabetes, hypertension, and other diseases. “The hope is that the public can be educated and choose what is good to consume and what should be reduced,” he said at the Launch of Nutrition Labelling at the Health Human Resources Building, Jakarta, on Tuesday, 14 April 2026.
Budi mentioned that in the initial stage, the government will only regulate the application of nutri-level labelling for beverage products.
The government divides the sugar content levels of beverage products into four levels marked with specific colours and letters. These include level A (dark green) for very healthy drinks with sugar content less than 1 gram, meaning no added sweeteners.
Then, level B (light green) for the healthy category with sugar content less than 1-5 grams, level C (yellow) for the less healthy category with sugar content of 5-10 grams, and level D (red) for the unhealthy category with sugar content more than 10 grams.