Nutrition & health

The Red Warning Label on Packaged Food in India: What It Means for Your Namkeen

What is the red warning label on packaged food, and is it mandatory yet?

India’s food regulator has proposed a red hexagon on the front of packaged food that is high in fat, sugar or salt, and the Supreme Court has reserved its order. What is proposed, what is still undecided, and how to read the back of a pack in the meantime.

By · Sourced nutrition, food safety and kitchen notes · Pure Bites, Surat

· 5 min read

As of 29 September 2026, no packet in India is required to carry a front-of-pack warning label. What exists is a proposal. The food regulator, FSSAI, has told the Supreme Court it would put a red hexagon on the front of packaged food that is high in fat, sugar or salt, and the Court has heard the matter and reserved its order. This page sets out what has been proposed, what has not been decided, and what a shopper can already do with the numbers on the back of the pack.

Red warning label at a glance

  • What is proposed: a red hexagonal mark on the front of the pack reading “high fat”, “high sugar”, “high salt” or “highly sweetened beverage”, as reported from FSSAI’s filing to the Court.
  • What is not decided: the exact cut-offs, the date, and whether the rule arrives in one step or two. The order was reserved on 29 September 2026.
  • What you can do today: read energy, fat, sugar and sodium per 100 g on the back, and hold them against the ICMR–NIN thresholds below.

What is the red warning label on packaged food?

Front-of-pack nutrition labelling is a simple idea: the uncomfortable fact about a food goes on the front, in words, instead of in a table on the back. According to published accounts of the case, the Supreme Court asked the government in February 2026 to consider such labels, and FSSAI’s reply in August 2026 proposed the red hexagon. The nutrients it names are added saturated fat, sugar and salt. Foods that are a single ingredient and are fat, sugar or salt by nature — ghee, edible oil, salt, sugar, jaggery, honey — are reported to be exempt.

When will warning labels become mandatory in India?

Nobody can say yet. FSSAI first described two phases: packs high in at least two of the nutrients would carry the mark first, and packs high in even one would follow. It has since told the Court the two steps could become one, with about four months to notify the rule and labels mandated within a year. Food manufacturers have argued the cut-offs should be judged per serving rather than per 100 g. Until the Court rules and FSSAI notifies a regulation, all of this is a proposal and the details may change. We will update this page when it does.

What counts as high in fat, sugar or salt?

The proposal is reported to take its cut-offs from the ICMR–NIN Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024. The final label thresholds have not been published, so the table below is the guideline’s own definition, not the rule.

Will namkeen and farsan get the red label?

Probably, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise. The same guideline lists deep-fried foods and savouries among high-fat foods, and names namkeen, papad and pickles among foods high in salt. A fried gathiya or sev — ours included — is a fried snack, and a fair label will say that. Whether a snack fried to order by a kitchen is treated the same way as a factory packet is something the final rule will have to spell out; we do not know yet.

What a front label cannot tell you is what the snack was fried in, how old the oil was, or when it was made. For those, see how to read a snack ingredient list and how to tell reused frying oil.

How to read a pack until the label arrives

  1. Find the per-100 g column. Indian labels must state energy, protein, carbohydrate, total and added sugars, total, saturated and trans fat, and sodium.
  2. Turn sodium into salt. Multiply the sodium in milligrams by 2.5 and divide by 1,000. A pack showing 800 mg sodium per 100 g holds 2 g of salt per 100 g.
  3. Read the % RDA per serve. The percentages are worked out against 2,000 kcal, 67 g fat, 22 g saturated fat, 50 g added sugar and 2,000 mg sodium a day.
  4. Check the serving is the amount you eat. A 20 g serving printed on a 200 g packet is a tenth of the pack.

Warning labels — common questions

Is the red warning label mandatory in India now?

No. As of 29 September 2026 it is a proposal before the Supreme Court, which has reserved its order. No date has been notified.

What shape and colour is the proposed label?

A red hexagon carrying words such as “high fat”, “high sugar” or “high salt”, according to published accounts of FSSAI’s filing. The final design could change.

Will ghee, oil, sugar and jaggery carry the warning?

The proposal is reported to exempt single-ingredient foods that are fat, sugar or salt by nature: ghee, edible oil, salt, sugar, jaggery and honey.

Does a warning label mean the food is unsafe?

No. It means the food is high in a nutrient of concern. Hygiene, freshness and adulteration are covered by separate rules and are not what this label measures.

Is the limit per 100 g or per serving?

The ICMR–NIN thresholds are per 100 g. Manufacturers have asked for per-serving limits; that is one of the points still open.

See what goes into each pack Fried in fresh peanut oil after the order

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