Hyderabad-based paediatrician Dr Sivaranjani Santosh’s crusade forced FSSAI to issue an order barring FMCG firms from using ‘ORS’ on their sugary drinks' label

THE Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on October 14 issued an advisory prohibiting food and beverage companies from using the term ‘ORS’ (Oral Rehydration Solution) on any product name, label, or trademark, even as a prefix or suffix.

The order comes in the wake of an eight-year hard and lonely battle fought by Dr Sivaranjani Santosh, a Hyderabad-based paediatrician. It all began when she noticed that many of her young patients were getting worse instead of improving after she prescribed ORS for diarrhoea. For decades, doctors have been prescribing the WHO-recommended ORS packets in severe cases of diarrhoea or dehydration, which is usually an after-effect, in children under 5.

“Many of the children were getting hospitalised and had to be administered IV fluids, after