How veg are your cosmetics? Red, green dots to specify

New Delhi, May 20

On lines of packaged food products, cosmetics and toiletries like facewash, soaps, shampoos and toothpastes will soon carry a brown/red or green dot indicating the source of the product as vegetarian or non-vegetarian.

A proposal in this regard was recently cleared by India's highest drug advisory body, the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB), said a senior official in the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO).

“The Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) cleared the proposal regarding mandatory labelling of cosmetic products and toiletries with a brown/red and green dot on Wednesday. To incorporate the changes, the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, will have to be amended," the senior official said.

A notification in this regard is expected to be issued in another six months.

According to Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) Dr S Eswara Reddy, the people belonging to Jain community and the department of Consumer Affairs have been demanding labelling of cosmetics and toiletries with a brown/red and green dot indicating non-vegetarian or vegetarian origin for quite some time.

Currently, packaged food products sold in India are required to be labelled with a mandatory mark indicating whether source of the product was vegetarian or non-vegetarian.

Vegetarian food is identified by a green symbol while non-vegetarian food with a red dot. — PTI