ORS, electrolyte drinks and the label FSSAI went after in 2025

Oral rehydration salts are one of the most consequential public health inventions of the twentieth century. The formulation is specific: a defined balance of glucose and sodium that exploits co-transport in the gut to pull water across the intestinal wall, plus potassium and a base. It is the reason childhood diarrhoea kills far fewer children than it once did.

That is why the label matters so much, and why the regulator acted.

What happened in 2025

Through October and November 2025, FSSAI issued orders and then directed enforcement against food products using the term ORS on their labels when they do not conform to the WHO-recommended formulation - including fruit-based beverages, ready-to-drink products and electrolyte drinks using ORS as a prefix, suffix or part of a brand name.

The regulator described the practice as a public health hazard: a caregiver reaching for a sweetened drink labelled ORS during a child episode of diarrhoea may be giving something that worsens it, because a high-sugar, low-sodium drink can draw water into the gut rather than helping absorb it.

WHO-formula ORS itself is notified as a drug under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and sits outside FSSAI jurisdiction - which is precisely why the food regulator acted on the label rather than on the medicine.

During diarrhoea or vomiting, particularly in a child, use ORS from a pharmacy that states WHO formula or ORS as per WHO recommendation. Not an energy drink, not a sports drink, not a fruit-based beverage with electrolyte branding, and not homemade sugar-salt water unless you have been told the exact proportions by a health worker.

When you actually need electrolytes

How to read an electrolyte product

• Sodium content is the point of the product. A drink with negligible sodium is a flavoured sugar water.
• Sugar has a purpose in rehydration - glucose drives sodium and water absorption - but the ratio matters, and more sugar is not better.
• Check sugar per 100 ml. Many ready-to-drink electrolyte products sit at levels comparable to soft drinks.
• Sugar-free electrolyte tablets are for electrolyte replacement, not for rehydration during illness.
• Caffeine in the ingredients means you are holding an energy drink, which is a different product with its own mandatory advisory in India.
• Check for an FSSAI licence number - and for a genuine ORS, look for the drug licence details instead.

Heat, in an Indian context

Heat illness is a real and rising risk across much of India, and hydration is only one part of the answer. Early signs of heat exhaustion - heavy sweating, weakness, nausea, headache, dizziness - are a signal to get out of the heat, cool down and drink.

Hot dry skin, confusion, a very high body temperature or fainting indicate possible heat stroke, which is a medical emergency. No drink treats that - cooling and immediate medical help do.

For ordinary hot days, the traditional answers hold up well: water through the day, nimbu paani, chaas, coconut water, and salt in food. They are cheaper than anything in the electrolyte aisle and they carry no label to decode.