How to Read a Packaged Food Label in India: A Plain-Language Guide
A label is the best place to start asking questions about your food. Here is what each part tells you, and what it does not.
24 October 2026 · 4 min read
A food label is one of the few places where a brand puts information in front of every single buyer. It is also easy to skim past. Packaged foods sold in India are required to carry certain information under rules set by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), and knowing what each part means makes shopping a little less guesswork.
This guide walks through the parts of a typical label, what each one is for, and what it does not tell you.
Turn the pack over first
The front of a pack is mostly marketing: the brand name, the photo, and words like “natural”, “pure” or “high protein”. The back and sides are where the required information sits. Make a habit of reading the back first.
1. The ingredient list
The ingredient list names everything in the product. Ingredients are listed in descending order of weight, so the first few items make up most of what you are buying. If sugar or oil comes first, that tells you something.
- Check the first three ingredients. They are the bulk of the product.
- Additives are normally listed with their purpose, such as preservative or colour, and often an INS number.
- Some labels also carry an allergen statement, for example for nuts, milk or gluten. Read it even if you think you know the product.
2. The veg or non-veg mark
Packaged foods in India carry a mark showing whether the product is vegetarian or non-vegetarian: a green dot inside a square for vegetarian, and a brown triangle inside a square for non-vegetarian. It is worth checking even for products you assume are vegetarian.
3. The FSSAI logo and licence number
Look for the FSSAI logo and a 14-digit licence or registration number. This shows the food business is registered or licensed with FSSAI. It tells you the business has a registration. It is not a quality award, and it does not describe how good or how pure a particular product is.
4. Dates and the batch number
Labels carry dates to help you judge freshness. “Best before” is about quality: after that date the product may not taste or perform as well. “Use by” is about safety for perishable foods, and the product should not be eaten after it. Check which one your pack uses.
The batch or lot number links the pack to a specific production run. It matters if a brand ever needs to look into an issue with a particular batch.
5. Net quantity and price
The net quantity tells you how much food is actually in the pack, in grams or millilitres. Pack sizes vary, so compare price per 100 g (or per 100 ml) rather than price per pack.
6. The nutrition information
The nutrition table shows energy, protein, carbohydrates (including sugars) and fat, and often sodium, either per 100 g or per serving. Two cautions:
- Check whether the numbers are per 100 g or per serving. A “serving” can be much smaller than what people actually eat.
- Compare similar products on the same basis. A nutrition table describes the product, not what is right for your own diet or health. For health questions, speak to a doctor or a qualified dietitian.
7. Who made it
The label carries the name and address of the manufacturer or packer, plus customer-care details. If a brand uses a contract manufacturer, the address may be the manufacturer’s rather than the brand’s. It is a quick way to see who is really behind a product.
8. Claims: “natural”, “pure”, “organic”, “high protein”
These are the words to read most carefully. Some claims have specific rules or conditions behind them. Others are everyday marketing words. “Natural”, “pure” and “traditional” do not, by themselves, tell you how a food was grown or made.
“Organic” is a different kind of word: it should be backed by an applicable certification, which you can ask the brand to show. Nutrient claims such as “high protein” have conditions too, and the nutrition table is where you check them.
A good rule: treat a claim as a question to check, not an answer.
A quick checklist for the aisle
- Turn the pack over and read the ingredient list first.
- Check the first three ingredients.
- Look at the veg or non-veg mark and any allergen statement.
- Find the FSSAI logo and licence number.
- Check whether it says best before or use by, and note the batch number.
- Compare nutrition per 100 g, not per serving.
- Note who manufactured it.
- Treat front-of-pack claims as questions.
What a label cannot tell you
A label is a starting point. It cannot tell you where the ingredients were grown, how they were sourced, or what tests were done on a particular batch. It cannot show whether a brand’s own claims have been independently checked.
That is the gap we want to explore. At Root to Bite we try to separate what a brand says, what has been checked, and what is still unknown. You can read more in how we handle evidence, or in why we started Root to Bite.
Rules and label formats change. For the latest official requirements, see the FSSAI pages below. This guide is a plain-language introduction, not legal or medical advice.
Sources
General information only, not legal or medical advice. No brand sponsored or reviewed this article.
