JAKARTA: The Health Ministry and the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) have introduced a graded labelling policy for sugar, salt and fat content in beverage products in a move to promote healthier dietary habits.
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin issued a ministerial decree on April 14 introducing a nutrition labelling policy, called Nutri-Level, to be applied on menus and packaging of freshly prepared beverages sold in drink outlets and restaurants, such as bubble tea, milk coffee and fruit juices.
The label classifies drinks from A to D level using dark green, light green, yellow and red colour codes based on the percentage of sugar, salt and fat content per 100 millilitres.
The level will be determined with lab testing supervised by health agencies at the regional level.
Budi said authorities aim for the policy to discourage unhealthy diets, which he said have contributed to a rise of noncommunicable diseases in the country, such as diabetes, stroke, heart disease and kidney failure.
“Rather than treating people after they are sick, it is better to prevent it by staying healthy. Therefore, we must regulate our food consumption, especially sugar, salt and fat,” the minister said in a press briefing on April 14.
The Health Ministry recorded more than six times the increase in kidney failure cases from 2019 to 2025, with treatment costs rising from around Rp 2 trillion (US$116 million) to Rp 13 trillion.
Similar increases were also seen for stroke and diabetes. Through the free health screening scheme, the government also found hypertension, obesity and diabetes among the most common conditions in adults.
The Nutri-Level is currently not mandated, but Budi said there will be a coming regulation formalizing the policy, with a two-year transition period for businesses to adapt
BPOM head Taruna Ikrar said at the same briefing the same policy is also enforced for packaged beverages sold at retail outlets under the agency’s supervision, with regulation on the matter expected in the near future.
Both Budi and Taruna said the Nutri-Level policy would also be applied for food products in the long run, but stopping short on a detailed timeline for such a move. Firmer action While acknowledging the move could help raise awareness on healthy diet, nutritionist Tan Shot Yen said the government should not stop at labelling alone.
“It should be accompanied by education as well as other measures, including restricting the advertising of [ultra-processed foods],” she said on Thursday.
She argued that the industry, which has heavily promoted its products and contributed to addictive consumption patterns, bears responsibility to help improve public health.
Public health professor Abdul Razak Thaha of Hasanuddin University criticized the planned two-year transition period as too long, citing the urgency posed by the surge of noncommunicable diseases in Indonesia, which he argued had become a burden to the nation, particularly among lower-income groups.
He urged the government to take firmer action, including imposing punishments for noncomplying businesses and introducing follow-up measures such as tax on sweetened beverages, while providing incentives for healthy food producers.
Center for Indonesia’s Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI) food policy researcher Nida Adzilla Auliani said voluntary and gradual implementation would not be strong enough to drive changes in consumption behaviour, with colour-based grading may still blur the message.
“Warning information such as ‘high in…’ or ‘excess in…’ have consistently proven more effective in helping consumers identify high-risk products,” she said.
Nida pushed the government to push for a more comprehensive policy that includes marketing restriction and tax as significant impact “will only be seen when interventions are carried out simultaneously”.
From the consumer perspective, the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) highlighted the inclusivity of the policy.
In a statement issued on Friday, it noted that the label might be hard to understand for people with little to no understanding about nutrition, while hard to read for people with colorblindness. Responding to the Nutri-Level policy, the Indonesia Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) secretary-general Maulana Yusran said a two-year transition might not be sufficient for businesses to adapt, especially for when it expands to target food products and a broader range of businesses.
“Food and beverages in restaurants are not always prepared to use standardized measurements. That will pose a challenge going forward,” Maulana said, citing additional time and costs required for implementation. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
