FSSAI tightens front-of-pack nutrition labelling for ready-to-eat meals
New rules require salt, sugar and saturated-fat warnings on the front of all packaged ready-to-eat meals from October 2026, with cloud kitchens not exempt.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued a draft notification requiring front-of-pack nutritional labels (FoPL) on all ready-to-eat (RTE) meals sold in retail or via aggregator platforms. The rules take effect from October 1, 2026, with a six-month transition window.
What changes:
- A standardised warning tag is required if salt exceeds 1.5g, added sugar exceeds 10g, or saturated fat exceeds 5g per 100g of product.
- Cloud kitchens packaging meals for delivery aggregators must comply — FSSAI clarifies these are “packaged at point of sale” and not exempt.
- Calorie-per-serving and per-100g must appear above the ingredient list, not buried at the bottom.
Operators TCA spoke with said the bigger operational impact is on standardising recipes (and lab-testing them) rather than the printing itself. Expect a rush on FSSAI-empanelled food labs over the next two quarters.
The full draft is available on the FSSAI website. TCA will host a webinar with a compliance consultant in May; subscribers get first access.
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