FSSAI labelling rules in 2026: what every Indian food pack must show, minimum text sizes, the 2025 and 2026 changes, and where front-of-pack warnings stand.
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Drafted with AI tools; researched, edited and approved by Althameem Ali. Our editorial policy
On this page · 9 sections
- Which rules govern food labels in India?
- What must every pack show?
- How big must the text be?
- What changed in 2025 and 2026?
- Where does front-of-pack labelling stand?
- Which claims get brands into trouble?
- How do you design a label that is legal and still sells?
- Frequently asked questions
- Get the legal panel right first
We design food packaging and label systems, so we work with these rules on every pack. This checklist summarises the public regulations as they read in October 2026, with links to each source. It is not legal advice: a food regulatory consultant or an accredited lab should check your artwork before you print.
A label is the one piece of marketing a food brand cannot skip, and the one most likely to be redone. Get the legal panel wrong and the whole print run waits; get it right first and the front of the pack is free to sell.
Which rules govern food labels in India?#
Two sets of rules apply to almost every pack, with a third for claims.
- The FSS (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020. FSSAI's consolidated text, Version VIII of 9 September 2025 (opens in a new tab), sets out what a pre-packaged food label must say, where and how large. Food businesses have had to comply since 1 July 2022.
- The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011. These govern net quantity, the retail sale price, the unit sale price and consumer care details. From 1 April 2022, the Department of Consumer Affairs made the MRP "inclusive of all taxes", added the unit sale price and required the month and year of manufacture, as its release of 8 November 2021 explained (opens in a new tab). Since January 2025, new labelling amendments under these rules take effect only on 1 January or 1 July, with at least 180 days' notice (release of 29 January 2025 (opens in a new tab)).
- The FSS (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018. Every claim on the pack or in an ad, from "high protein" to "natural", has to meet these (Version III, 4 October 2022 (opens in a new tab)).
On top of these sit the product standards for your category, and the logos for fortified and organic foods. The mandatory particulars must be in English or Hindi in Devanagari script; Malayalam, Arabic or any other language can sit alongside, as long as it doesn't contradict the English or Hindi. For brands in FMCG and food that also ship to the Gulf, our guide to packaging for Kerala brands going to the Gulf covers the GSO rules there. What the pack is made of (the material, the inks, recycled PET) falls under a separate FSSAI regulation, which our guide to FSSAI packaging regulations explains.
What must every pack show?#
Here is the checklist, with the regulation number in the 2020 Regulations so your consultant can check each line.
A few lines need more detail.
Nutrition. The panel gives energy, protein, carbohydrate, total sugars, added sugars, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol and sodium, with the serve size and the number of servings in the pack. The per-serve percentage is worked out on 2,000 kcal, 67 g total fat, 22 g saturated fat, 2 g trans fat, 50 g added sugar and 2,000 mg sodium. Saturated and trans fat are needed only when total fat is above 0.5%, and cholesterol only for products with animal fat. Single-ingredient unprocessed foods, most spices, tea, coffee and salt are exempt, unless the pack makes a nutrition or health claim. The declared values carry a tolerance of minus 10% across the shelf life.
Allergens. Declare cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, milk, eggs, fish, peanuts and tree nuts (as "Nut"), soy and sulphite at 10 mg/kg or more. "May contain" for cross-contamination is optional.
Dates. For a shelf life of up to three months, give the day, month and year; for longer shelf lives, the month and year are enough. Foods that last seven days or less need only the use by or expiry date.
Selling online. Regulation 4(2) requires the mandatory label information to be shown to the buyer before sale, except the batch number and the dates. FSSAI's e-commerce advisory of 3 December 2024 (opens in a new tab) adds that online claims must match the physical label and that products must have at least 30% or 45 days of shelf life left at delivery.
Small packs. A pack with a surface area of 100 sq cm or less is exempt from the ingredient list, batch number, nutrition information, additive declaration, licence number and logo and instructions for use, as long as the multi-unit pack carries them (regulation 8(1)). Below 30 sq cm, the dates can also move to the multi-unit pack.
How big must the text be?#
Size depends on the area of the principal display panel: 40% of the height times the width of the largest face for a box, 40% of the height times the average circumference for a tub or bottle, and 20% of the total surface for other shapes. Regulation 6(3) then sets the minimum height of letters and numerals:
A letter's width must be at least a third of its height. The size of the net quantity, MRP, dates and consumer care details follows the Legal Metrology rules instead.
The veg and non-veg symbols have their own table in regulation 5(4)(c):
Two more sizes catch designers out. Schedule II declarations need at least 3 mm, measured on the letter "l". And a brand name that uses words such as "natural" or "pure" in a way that could mislead needs a disclaimer below it, at least 1.5 mm on packs under 100 sq cm and 3 mm above (more on that below).
What changed in 2025 and 2026?#
Where does front-of-pack labelling stand?#
As of 4 October 2026, it is close but not law. In July 2025 the Supreme Court directed FSSAI to bring in front-of-pack nutrition labels, The Tribune reported (opens in a new tab) on 15 July 2025. In an affidavit dated 28 August 2026, FSSAI proposed a red hexagon on the front of packs high in fat, sugar or salt, carrying "High Fat", "High Sugar", "High Salt" or "Highly Sweetened Beverage", at first only for products high in two or more of them, the Daily Pioneer reported (opens in a new tab) on 30 August 2026; single-ingredient foods and products such as ghee, oils, honey and jaggery would be exempt.
After the court questioned the two-phase plan, FSSAI moved to a single phase covering products high in any one nutrient, and asked for four months to finalise the rules plus a year of voluntary compliance to use up printed stock. On 28 September 2026 the court reserved its verdict, calling that timeline unreasonable and saying its order would bind FSSAI, Adgully reported (opens in a new tab) the same day. No judgment had been published when we checked on 4 October 2026, so check the position on the day you finalise artwork.
A separate change is also pending. FSSAI's Food Authority approved bold, larger text for total sugar, salt and saturated fat in the nutrition panel in July 2024, Business Standard reported (opens in a new tab), with a draft to follow for public comment; we found no final notification of it on FSSAI's site in October 2026.
What to do now: know your sugar, salt and saturated fat per 100 g, and keep a clear area on the front panel where a warning could sit, so a rule change means editing one panel, not redesigning the pack.
Which claims get brands into trouble?#
"100%". FSSAI's advisory of 28 May 2025 says the term isn't defined anywhere in the Act or its regulations, and that "in isolation or conjunction with other descriptors" it suggests a false sense of absolute purity or superiority. A year earlier, its advisory of 3 June 2024 (opens in a new tab) told juice makers to drop "100% fruit juice" from reconstituted juices, mark them "reconstituted" in the ingredient list and call them sweetened juice above 15 g/kg of added sweetener.
"Natural", "fresh", "pure", "traditional", "original". Schedule V of the Advertising and Claims Regulations defines each. "Natural" fits a single food with nothing added and minimal processing; a composite food can say "made from natural ingredients" only if every ingredient qualifies, and phrases like "natural goodness" are barred. "Traditional" needs a recipe or method that has existed, substantially unchanged, for a generation, which the schedule sets at thirty years. "Authentic", "genuine" and "real" need the label to explain why. And under regulation 4(7), a brand name using these words in a way that could mislead must carry "*This is only a brand name or trade mark and does not represent its true nature" below it, in the sizes above.
"Health drink" and "ORS". FSSAI told e-commerce sites in early 2024 that "Health Drink" isn't defined (opens in a new tab) under the Act and to stop using it as a category. Since October 2025, "ORS" can't appear in any food product's name.
Health and nutrition claims without evidence. Regulation 4(6) requires them to be scientifically substantiated. ASCI's annual complaints report (opens in a new tab) of 28 May 2026 counted 331 food and beverage cases in 2025-26, with nutraceuticals making up 52% of them.
Pictures that promise more than the pack holds. If the front shows almonds or strawberries, regulation 5(2)(g) usually requires their percentage in the ingredient list.
How do you design a label that is legal and still sells?#
We lay out the legal panel first and design the front around what is left. Mandatory text is fixed in size; the brand block, the photography and the flavour colour are not. Working the other way round is how a beautiful front ends up with 0.8 mm ingredients squeezed onto the side. For cosmetics, Ayurveda and other products with label rules of their own, our product label design guide covers each set.
Regulation 6(1) lets you group the pre-printed information in one place and the information printed on the line, such as dates and batch, in another, which is why the coding patch can sit apart from the legal panel.
Two packs from our own work show the front-of-pack thinking, with no compliance claim made for either. For Proteinuts' peanut butter tubs we designed the logotype and a tub label system in which each flavour has its own colour band, brand green for Pineapple Crunchy and rich brown for Dark Chocolate, so the variant reads from across the aisle. For Tea Today's takeaway range, a café brand in the Gulf rather than an Indian packaged food, solid orange and a repeat pattern carry the brand across very different formats, from a paper cup to a delivery box. When colour does the brand work, the text can stay plain.
A few habits save reprints:
- Proof at actual size. A 1 mm line that looks fine on a monitor can be unreadable on a curved tub. Print a sample and read it.
- Keep legal text off photographs and patterns. The regulations ask for label contents that are clear, prominent, conspicuous and readily legible, and for the FSSAI logo and the veg symbol to stand on a contrasting background.
- Write the copy deck before the artwork. Every statement in English, checked against the formulation, then any Malayalam or Arabic version beside it.
- Design the system, not one pack. Set the grid for the legal panel once, so a new flavour changes only the colour band and the numbers.
If the label is part of a new launch, our checklist for starting a food brand in India puts it in order with the licence, store and first ads, and our guide to brand guidelines shows how to write the pack rules down. For budgets, see what branding costs in India.
Frequently asked questions#
Is the FSSAI logo mandatory on small packs?#
Not on packs with a surface area of 100 sq cm or less. Regulation 8(1) of the Labelling and Display Regulations exempts them from the licence number and logo, the ingredient list, nutrition information and some other items, provided the multi-unit package carries that information.
Can a food label be printed only in Malayalam?#
No. The mandatory particulars must be in English or in Hindi in Devanagari script. Malayalam or any other language can be added alongside, as long as it doesn't contradict the English or Hindi text.
Is a "best before" date mandatory on food packs in India?#
No. The date of manufacture or packing and the use by or expiry date are mandatory, grouped together; "best before" may be added as extra information.
What is the minimum font size on an Indian food label?#
It depends on the principal display panel: 1 mm up to 200 sq cm, 2 mm up to 500 sq cm, 3 mm up to 2,500 sq cm and 6 mm above that, with larger minimums for blown or moulded text. Net quantity, MRP and dates follow the Legal Metrology rules.
When will front-of-pack warning labels become mandatory?#
They weren't mandatory as of 4 October 2026. FSSAI proposed red hexagon warnings for foods high in fat, sugar or salt in the Supreme Court in August 2026, and later asked for four months to finalise the rules and a year of voluntary compliance. The court reserved its verdict on 28 September 2026 and said its order would bind FSSAI, so check for a ruling before you print.
Get the legal panel right first#
A food label has two jobs: to tell the truth in the way the law sets out, and to make someone pick the pack up. Start with the first and the second gets easier. If you're planning a new pack or reworking an old one, share your product and the market you're selling in, or see how we approach packaging design for Kerala and Indian food brands.
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Written by
Co-founder, Marketlube
Althameem Ali researched, edited and approved this post. Marketlube is a growth partner in Calicut building brands, websites, CRMs and campaigns for businesses across Kerala, India and the Gulf.
