FSSAI labelling for sweet shops and bakeries: what must be on the box

Does a box of kaju katli need a printed label? Does the tray of rasgulla on your counter need a date? The answer turns on one question: were the sweets packed before the customer walked in?

Sweets weighed and packed in front of the customer are, in the usual reading, loose food. A box packed in advance and kept on the shelf, or sent to a shop or an online buyer, is pre-packaged food. It needs a full label.

In this guide we go through both, rule by rule, with the regulation number next to each point so you can check it yourself.

We have been making packaging at Jagannath Polymers in Jaipur since 1997, and our sister company, Jagannath Labels, prints labels. So we see this question from the box side. We are not food-safety consultants. Please show this list to one before you print your next lot of boxes.

Do loose sweets on the counter need a date?

Let us start with the counter. Across India, a date on the tray is now voluntary. In some states it is not.

The rule has moved three times. In February 2020, FSSAI ordered sweet shops to show both a manufacturing date and a best before date on trays of loose sweets. Its order of 25 September 2020 replaced that with one requirement: from 1 October 2020, the container or tray had to show a best before date, decided by the shop "depending upon the nature of the product and the local conditions".

Then, on 7 November 2023, FSSAI withdrew that order "till further decision". Its reason was that date marking on non-packaged food needs more study by its scientific panel. The same letter says a shop may still show a best before date on a voluntary basis.

States can go further. Uttar Pradesh is the current example. Its Food Safety and Drug Administration has ordered that a use by date be displayed on all sweets stored and displayed for sale from 15 October 2026, as PTI reported on 27 September 2026. If I sold sweets in UP, I would ask the district food safety officer for the order itself and follow its exact wording, not a news summary of it.

I would put a date on every tray anyway, rule or no rule.

A small card costs almost nothing. It answers the first question a careful customer asks, and it protects you if a complaint ever comes.

FSSAI has also published a guidance note on traditional milk products (dated 24 February 2020). It suggests that the tray card also say whether the sweet is made in ghee, oil or vanaspati. The note has no force of law. I would still add the line, because customers ask about it.

When is a box "pre-packaged"?

The FSS (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020 define pre-packaged food as food placed in a package so that the contents cannot be changed without tampering, and which is ready for sale to the consumer (regulation 2(1)(r)). I read the current consolidated text, Version VIII, dated 9 September 2025.

In daily shop terms, this is how we read it:

1. Kaju katli weighed on the scale and boxed while the customer waits: loose. The labelling chapter does not apply in full.
2. Boxes of 250 g and 500 g packed in the morning, closed and stacked for the evening rush: pre-packaged.
3. Boxes sent to a corporate client, a retailer or an online customer: pre-packaged.

The second case is the easy one to miss, because it feels like an ordinary counter sale. It is also where officers can read the rule differently, so ask your consultant how your local office treats boxes packed in the morning.

One more case. Regulation 8(4) names halwais among sellers of food served for immediate consumption. For them, the full label is replaced by a display at the point of sale. It must show allergen information and the veg or non-veg mark.

What must a pre-packaged box carry?

Regulation 5 lists it. For a mithai or bakery box we count twelve things:

1. The name of the food, on the front of the pack (5(1)). Write "Kaju Katli" or "Assorted Bengali Sweets", and not just your brand name.
2. Ingredients, in descending order by weight (5(2)).
3. Nutrition information per 100 g, with energy, protein, carbohydrate, total sugars, added sugars, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat and sodium. Cholesterol is needed when animal fat such as ghee pushes total fat above 0.5% (5(3)).
4. The veg or non-veg mark (5(4)).
5. Food additives, by class name and specific name or INS number, for example a permitted colour (5(5)).
6. The name and complete address of the brand owner, with words such as "Manufactured by" or "Packed and Marketed by" (5(6)).
7. The FSSAI logo and licence number (5(7)).
8. Net quantity, retail sale price and consumer care details, as the Legal Metrology rules require (5(8)).
9. A batch, lot or code number (5(9)).
10. The dates (5(10)). More on this below.
11. Storage instructions, if the date depends on them, such as "Keep refrigerated" (5(13)).
12. Allergens (5(14)).

The text must be in English or in Hindi in Devanagari script. You may add a regional language as well, as long as it does not contradict the English or Hindi (4(5)).

Use by or best before?

The regulation gives the two words different meanings.

"Best before" is the end of the period in which the food stays fully marketable. After it, the food may still be safe, though its quality may have dropped. "Use by" or "expiry" is the date after which the food may not be safe, and must not be sold.

For a packed box, the mandatory pair is the date of manufacture or packing, and the use by or expiry date. Best before is optional, an extra line if you want it (5(10)(a)). For food that lasts up to three months, write day, month and year, as in 21/10/26 (5(10)(b)). If the shelf life is seven days or less, the manufacturing date can be left out, but the use by date must stay (8(3)). Keep the dates together at one place on the label (5(10)(e)).

Honestly, I think "best before" is the wrong word for a khoya sweet. It tells the customer that the sweet may still be fine after the date. For a milk sweet, that is often not true.

Use by is the more honest promise. I would rather see a plain sticker with the right date than a glossy box with the wrong word on it.

Your shelf life has to come from your own product, your kitchen and your shop temperature. We explain how to work it out in our guide on keeping mithai and baked goods fresh.

The veg mark, and the egg in your cake

Vegetarian food carries a green filled circle inside a green square. Non-vegetarian food carries a brown filled triangle inside a brown square. Both go on the front of the pack, on a contrasting background, close to the name or brand (5(4)(d)). The FSSAI FAQ on these regulations says the mark cannot be dropped even on packs of 100 cm² or less, because it is a culturally sensitive choice.

The minimum size depends on the area of the principal display panel:

This is the one mark we would never leave off a box.

Bakeries need to watch two things. Egg makes a product non-vegetarian under the definition, so a cake with egg takes the brown triangle. Gelatin is of animal origin, so a mousse or cheesecake set with gelatin does too. Milk, milk products and honey do not.

Allergens: almost every mithai has two

The regulation asks you to declare eight allergens as "Contains ...": cereals with gluten such as wheat, crustaceans, milk, egg, fish, peanuts and tree nuts, soy, and sulphite at 10 mg/kg or more (5(14)).

Most mithai contain milk. Kaju, badam and pista are tree nuts. Balushahi and most cakes contain wheat. So "Contains: Milk, Nut" will be a common line on your boxes.

If the same kitchen and trays handle nuts all day, you can add "May contain traces of nut". In our view, that line belongs on every box from a shared kitchen. The FAQ allows wording such as "Manufactured in the same facility which processes nuts" as well.

Licence number: on the box and in the shop

The FSSAI logo and licence number of the brand owner go on the label, in a colour that contrasts with the background. If a different business makes or packs the product, its licence number goes on too (5(7)(a) and (b)).

Separately, every food business must display its registration or licence number, or the Food Safety Display Board, at a prominent place in each premises where food is stored, processed or sold (5(7)(d)).

Small boxes, gift boxes and online orders

1. Very small packs. If the pack surface is 100 cm² or less, the ingredients list, batch number, nutrition, additives, licence number and logo can move to the outer multi-unit pack (8(1)). The name and veg mark stay on the small pack. Below 30 cm², the dates can move to the outer pack as well.
2. Assorted boxes. For an assorted pack, the regulation asks for the earliest shelf life among the items inside (8(6)). Use the same logic for a mixed box you fill yourself. Put one piece of milk cake in a box of kaju katli and the whole box takes the milk cake date.
3. Sugar-free sweets. Sweeteners need their own declaration in a box on the label, such as "This contains (name of sweetener)", plus a warning for some of them (Schedule II). Check the exact wording for the sweetener you use.
4. Selling online. Everything mandatory must be shown to the buyer before the sale, on your website or the marketplace listing. Only batch number and dates are excused, because they change (4(2)).

If you also run a café counter

Regulation 9 covers menus. A business with a central licence, or with outlets at 10 or more locations, must show calories per serving against each item. The same regulation asks food service establishments to mark allergens and the veg or non-veg logo against items on the menu card or board. Whether a small café counter inside a sweet shop counts is a fair question for your consultant.

Print it or stick it?

Here is the split we suggest.

Print on the box everything that never changes: name, ingredients, nutrition, veg mark, allergens, address, licence number and storage instruction. Put what changes on a label or a stamp: batch, dates and, where it varies, net weight and price.

The label must stay on the box and must stay readable (4(6) and 4(7)). Letter heights have a minimum too, and it grows with the size of the panel (6(3)).

Then do one check yourself. I like this one because it takes ten seconds. Take a finished box, touch a little ghee with your thumb and rub the printed date. Your customers handle boxes with the same hands. If the date smudges, change the ink, the label stock or the stamp before Diwali, not after.

The regulation keeps changing. The most recent amendment was notified on 24 March 2026, with changes due from 1 July 2027. Ask your consultant what it means for you before your next print run. We have kept this guide to the text in force today.

Our sister company can print what your consultant approves. Deciding what goes on the label stays with you and your consultant, and we would rather say so plainly.

If you are choosing the box itself, our guide on food-safe boxes, trays and liners covers what may touch the sweets.

Take one box off your own shelf this evening and check it against the twelve points above. I would start with the date line. Which one is missing on yours?