If you want to know how to read food labels in India, start with one rule: the front of the packet sells, the back of the packet tells. Pick up a pack of "multigrain" biscuits or "millet" namkeen in a supermarket in Pune or Bengaluru, and the front shows green leaves and words like "natural" and "wholesome". Turn it over, and you see what is actually inside.
This guide walks you through a quick order you can follow in the aisle: pack and FSSAI licence, ingredient order, serving size, the nutrition table, allergens, dates and claims. It is written for everyday shoppers trying to choose a healthy packaged food without a nutrition degree, and it ends with a 10-point checklist you can screenshot.
The short answer: check the pack is intact and its FSSAI licence verifies, read the first three ingredients, compare nutrition per 100 g, adjust for what you really eat, then check allergens and dates.
Why the Front of a Packaged Food Label Is Not the Whole Story
The front of a packaged food label is marketing space. "Made with millets", "no maida" or "high fibre" highlight one feature. They do not describe the whole product.
The legal details sit on the back and sides. The Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020 set out what every FSSAI food label must declare, including the ingredient list, nutrition information, allergens, the FSSAI logo and licence number, the veg or non-veg symbol, and date marking. FSSAI's consumer explainer, Eat Right India's How to Read Labels guide, covers the same ground in plain language.
How to Read Food Labels in India: The 7-Step Process
Follow these steps in order. The early steps can rule a product out in seconds, so you only spend time on the numbers for packs worth considering.
Step 1: Check the Pack and the FSSAI Licence
A damaged pack makes a good label irrelevant. Check the seal for tears, pinholes or re-taped edges, cans for dents or bulges, and clear windows for moisture, clumping or insects. A flat "puffed" snack packet may have lost its nitrogen fill and gone stale.
The label should clearly name the food (for example "Ragi Flakes", not just a brand name), show the manufacturer, packer or marketer's name and full address, and state the net quantity in grams or millilitres. Also look for the green dot (vegetarian) or brown dot (non-vegetarian) symbol.
How to do an FSSAI licence number check on a food pack:
- Find the FSSAI logo and the 14-digit licence or registration number beside it.
- Enter the number in the licence search on FSSAI's FoSCoS portal (foscos.fssai.gov.in), or use the Food Safety Connect app. Confirm the current route on the official FSSAI website, as services are updated.
- Check that the business name and address match what is printed on the pack, and that the licence is not shown as expired.
Red-flag rule: if there is no number, or it will not verify, or the details do not match, do not buy. You can report it through Food Safety Connect.
Keep one caution in mind. A valid licence means the business is legally licensed or registered. It does not mean the product is nutritious or suitable for your diet.
Step 2: Read the Ingredient List in Order
Understanding ingredient list order in India is simple: under FSSAI rules, ingredients are listed in descending order of weight. Whatever comes first makes up the largest share of the product.
Read the first three closely, since together they usually make up most of the pack. Compare two "millet cookie" lists:
- Pack A: Refined wheat flour (maida), sugar, edible vegetable oil (palm), ragi flour (12%)...
- Pack B: Ragi flour (45%), jowar flour, jaggery, butter...
Both can say "millet" on the front. Pack A is mostly maida, sugar and palm oil with some ragi added. Pack B is genuinely millet-led. When a claim highlights an ingredient, the label usually shows its percentage, which makes this comparison easier.
Then scan the rest of the list. Hidden added sugars can appear under several names, such as jaggery, invert syrup, liquid glucose, dextrose, maltodextrin, honey, malt extract or fruit juice concentrate. Salt and fat can hide as sodium-containing additives (such as INS 621, monosodium glutamate), "hydrogenated vegetable fat" or "interesterified fat". Compound ingredients like "seasoning" or "chocolate compound" often carry their own list in brackets, so read inside those too.
No single ingredient is an automatic verdict. Jaggery in a laddoo is not a scandal. What matters is how much, and where it sits in the list.
Step 3: Check Serving Size and Servings Per Pack
Per 100 g vs serving size on a food label is where many shoppers get caught. Eat Right India notes that nutrition information is generally shown per serving or per 100 g / 100 ml, and that one pack may contain more than one serving.
Label value per 100 g × grams you actually eat ÷ 100 = what you consume
Worked example: a 150 g pack of millet cookies shows 480 kcal and 22 g total sugars per 100 g. The stated serving is 25 g (2 cookies), but you eat 5 cookies with tea, about 62 g.
- Energy: 480 × 62 ÷ 100 = about 298 kcal, not the 120 kcal per serving on the label.
- Sugars: 22 × 62 ÷ 100 = about 13.6 g.
- Value: a ₹90 pack is 6 servings on paper but only about 2.4 of your real portions. That makes it no cheaper than a ₹120 pack you stretch over a week.
Step 4: Read the Nutritional Information Panel
To check a packaged food nutrition label properly, know what must be there. The FSSAI Labelling and Display Regulations require energy, protein, carbohydrate (with sugars specified) and fat. Where a nutrition or health claim is made, the nutrient behind it must also be declared.
- Energy (kcal): most useful for snacks you eat often.
- Protein (g): check this per 100 g if the pack claims "high protein".
- Carbohydrate, of which sugars: total sugars include natural sugars from milk or fruit. Some labels list added sugars separately, but not every pack does. If yours does not, use the ingredient list from Step 2 to judge where the sugar comes from.
- Fat: often broken into saturated and trans fat. Lower trans fat is better.
- Sodium (mg): check namkeen, instant noodles, soups and sauces. Sodium × 2.5 gives roughly the salt.
- Dietary fibre (g): usually shown when there is a fibre claim.
Per-100 g rules of thumb
These are not Indian legal limits for everyday shopping. They are quick reference points to flag "high" or "low" while you compare:
- Sugar: the UK Food Standards Agency's front-of-pack scheme treats more than 22.5 g total sugars per 100 g as high and 5 g or less as low.
- Saturated fat: the same UK scheme treats more than 5 g per 100 g as high and 1.5 g or less as low.
- Sodium: the UK scheme's high-salt threshold of 1.5 g salt per 100 g works out to about 600 mg sodium; 0.3 g salt (about 120 mg sodium) or less is low.
- High fibre: FSSAI's claims rules in the labelling compendium allow a "high fibre" claim at 6 g fibre per 100 g, and "source of fibre" at 3 g per 100 g.
Eat Right India also explains %Daily Value on a 2,000-calorie basis, describing 5% or less of a nutrient as low and 20% or more as high. That figure is per serving, so adjust it for your real portion.
Compare like with like: maida vs ragi
Illustrative numbers for two snacks, per 100 g:
- Maida-based "multigrain" crackers: 500 kcal, 7 g protein, 18 g sugars, 11 g saturated fat, 2 g fibre, 750 mg sodium.
- Ragi-led baked crackers: 430 kcal, 9 g protein, 4 g sugars, 3 g saturated fat, 7 g fibre, 400 mg sodium.
Against the rules of thumb, the first pack is high in saturated fat and sodium. The second qualifies as high fibre. These are the kinds of millet snack nutritional facts worth checking side by side.
A nutrition table describes quantities. It does not on its own prove a food is healthy for everyone. The ICMR-NIN Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024 advise limiting foods high in fat, sugar and salt as part of an overall balanced diet. If you have diabetes or another condition, ask your doctor or dietitian how to read these numbers for you.
Step 5: Check the Allergen Declaration
FSSAI rules require an allergen declaration for known allergen-causing foods, usually a separate "Contains:" line near the ingredients. The list includes cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, tree nuts, milk, soybeans and sulphites above a set level.
- Read the "Contains" line first.
- Read the full ingredient list, including brackets, for words like "whey", "milk solids" or "atta".
- Note "may contain traces of" statements.
- Re-check on repeat purchases, because recipes change.
Caution: if you have a diagnosed allergy or coeliac disease, do not rely on front-of-pack claims. Ragi, jowar and bajra are naturally gluten-free, but a millet product can still contain wheat or be made alongside it. If in doubt, contact the manufacturer and follow medical advice.
Step 6: Check Manufacture Date, Best Before, Use By and Storage
- Date of manufacture or packing: when the food was made or packed. Millet flours contain natural oils and can turn rancid, so fresher is better.
- Use by or expiry: do not eat or buy after this date. Treat it as a hard line.
- Best before: FSSAI defines this as the end of the period, under stated storage conditions, when food stays fully marketable and keeps its specified qualities. Crunch and flavour may fade after it. It is a quality indication, not the same as use by, and unsafe food must never be sold.
Dates only hold if you follow storage directions. In humid cities like Mumbai, Chennai or Kolkata, move opened flours, flakes and snacks into airtight jars, keep them away from the stove, and finish them within a few weeks. Refrigerate millet flours in the monsoon if you use them slowly.
Step 7: Put Front-of-Pack Claims in Context
- "Millet-based": check the millet's position and percentage. If maida comes first, it is a wheat product with some millet.
- "Natural": sugar and salt are natural too. Check the sugars and sodium lines.
- "High protein": check grams per 100 g and per your portion.
- "No added sugar": look for jaggery, dates, honey or fruit concentrate, and check total sugars anyway.
- "Organic": look for the Jaivik Bharat logo described in FSSAI's organic food labelling guidance. Organic says how the ingredients were grown, not how much sugar or salt is in the product.
Checking Labels When You Shop Online or on Quick-Commerce Apps
On Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, BigBasket or Amazon, you cannot turn the pack over. Before you add something to your cart:
- Swipe through all the product images and look for a clear photo of the back panel. Zoom in on the ingredients, nutrition table and FSSAI number.
- Look in the "product details" text for ingredients, allergens, shelf life and the manufacturer or marketer, and check it matches the photo.
- If the back-panel image is missing, unreadable or obviously generic, look up the product on the brand's own website, or skip it.
- When the order arrives, check the printed manufacture and best-before or use-by dates straight away. Raise a return through the app if a pack is close to expiry or damaged.
The same rules apply when you buy millet flours or ready-to-eat millet snacks from any online store, including ours.
The 10-Point Food Label Checklist (Save This)
Screenshot this list. A "No" means stop and think again before you buy.
- Is the pack intact, with no tears, dents or swelling? Yes / No
- Is the FSSAI logo and 14-digit licence number printed, and does it verify on FoSCoS or Food Safety Connect? Yes / No
- Are the manufacturer or marketer address and net quantity shown? Yes / No
- Ingredient order: are the first three ingredients what you meant to pay for? Yes / No
- Is sugar listed under only one or two names, low in the list? Yes / No
- Serving size: is the stated serving close to what you will really eat? Yes / No
- Per 100 g: are sugars, saturated fat and sodium reasonable compared with a similar product? Yes / No
- Allergens: have you checked the "Contains" line and full list for your family's allergens? Yes / No
- Manufacture date: was it made or packed recently? Best before/use by: is it comfortably within date? Yes / No
- Does the back of the pack support the front-of-pack claim? Yes / No
For context on which numbers matter most for whole grains, see our guide to the health benefits of millets.
Conclusion
Once you know how to read food labels in India, you stop reacting to slogans and start comparing facts. Use the checklist on your next shopping trip. You can browse our millet range with it, and ask our team if you have questions about any product's ingredients, allergens or storage.
FAQ
How do I read a food label in India quickly?
Start on the back of the pack. Check the seal and FSSAI licence number, read the first three ingredients, and compare sugars, fat and sodium per 100 g with a similar product. Then adjust for how much you will really eat, and check the allergen line and the best-before or use-by date.
Is best before the same as expiry date on Indian food packs?
No. FSSAI defines best before as the period during which food keeps its full quality under the stated storage conditions, and quality may decline after that. A use-by or expiry date marks when food should no longer be eaten or sold. Never buy food that is past its use-by or expiry date.
How do I check an FSSAI licence number on a food pack?
Find the 14-digit number next to the FSSAI logo and search for it on FSSAI's FoSCoS portal or in the Food Safety Connect app. Check that the business name and address match the pack and that the licence is valid. If it will not verify, do not buy the product, and consider reporting it.
Does an FSSAI licence mean a food is healthy?
No. An FSSAI licence or registration shows the business is legally allowed to operate under food safety law. It does not rate nutrition. To judge whether a packaged food suits you, read the ingredient list, the nutrition table per 100 g and the allergen declaration.
Is a shorter ingredient list always better?
Not always. A short list often means less processing, but three ingredients could still be maida, sugar and palm oil. Look at what the first few ingredients are, scan for hidden sugars and salt, and compare the nutrition table per 100 g with similar products before you decide.
Should I compare food products per serving or per 100 g?
Compare per 100 g or 100 ml, because serving sizes vary between brands. Then work out what you actually eat: multiply the per-100 g value by the grams you eat and divide by 100. For example, 22 g of sugar per 100 g means about 13.6 g in a 62 g portion.
