Tea whitener brands will soon start implementing a Punjab Food Authority (PFA) order to specify on their product packaging that the contents are not milk, the authority's chief said on Friday.

Two months before a deadline set by the authority expired, brands have agreed to start printing ‘This is not milk’ on their packaging, PFA Director General Noorul Amin Mengal claimed.

The PFA had issued a warning to food production units in March to mention ‘This is not milk’ on 15 per cent of the total area of a tea whitener’s packaging by June 1 or face legal action.

"If products of a brand are found in the market without the warning label, stocks will be seized by the PFA. Store owners and manufacturers will face legal action," Mengal had said.

He added that the warning label will allow the common man to differentiate between tea-whiteners and milk, emphasising that tea-whiteners had caused harm to children.

A number of companies had previously been marketing non-dairy tea-whiteners as alternatives for milk — an unethical and criminal practice according to experts.

Concerns had been raised about the adverse effects consuming tea-whitener can have on public health. The products are thought to be particularly harmful to children.