Under FSSAI’s rules, you can’t call a food “healthy”. FSSAI has also told food businesses to stop using “100%” on their packs.
Say you make roasted makhana in Indore. You want to sell it on Blinkit, Zepto and Swiggy Instamart.
Your new packs say “100% Natural” and “Healthy Snack” in big letters on the front. You’re about to print 10,000 of them.
Stop the print run. Right now, regulators are checking quick-commerce apps for exactly these kinds of claims.
What happened on 23 September
On 23 September 2026, FSSAI said it had started action to penalise five platforms. They were Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy Instamart, BigBasket and Zepto.
As Business Standard reported, the problems were misleading claims and product details. FSSAI flagged a dried-fruit snack sold on all five platforms, and three products from a dairy brand.
FSSAI also found datura, a poisonous plant, on sale as food. It announced all this on social media. It hasn’t said what the penalties are.
State food departments are checking too. In August 2026, Maharashtra’s Food and Drug Administration inspected 86 places that deliver food through online platforms. It suspended 14 licences and issued 60 notices.
Five of the suspended licences had links to Blinkit, and five to Zepto. Inspectors found a chiller room running warmer than allowed. They also found food kept past its use-by date.
If you get your pack or listing wrong, your listing is the one that gets pulled. FSSAI’s rules ask platforms to pull it straight away.
The licence you need
FSSAI changed its licence limits on 1 April 2026. Now, what you need depends on your yearly turnover:
| Yearly turnover | What you need |
|---|---|
| Up to ₹1.5 crore | FSSAI registration |
| ₹1.5 crore to ₹50 crore | State licence |
| Above ₹50 crore | Central licence |
Many small brands that used to need a state licence now need only a registration. Before this change, FSSAI registration covered only businesses with a turnover of up to ₹12 lakh.
If you already hold a licence, you can move to the new category on FSSAI’s FoSCoS portal. It’s free, and you keep your licence number. You can read FSSAI’s order on the new limits in full.
Licences no longer expire. But you still have to pay the yearly fee and file the annual return.
If you miss either one, your licence counts as suspended. If you sell during that time, you break the law.
Each platform asks for your licence in its own way. But FSSAI’s rules apply on every platform, whatever the platform asks for.
Blinkit wants a valid FSSAI licence for the location you ship from. It also wants an “FSSAI image” for every food product. That’s a photo of the pack showing your licence number.
On its public onboarding list, Zepto asks for your PAN card, GST certificate and a cancelled cheque. It also asks for a copy of the authorised signatory’s signature, and your trademark certificate or authorisation letter. Instamart doesn’t publish a list.
Does a brand that only sells its stock to a platform need a special central licence for e-commerce? Brands sell this way on Blinkit. FSSAI hasn’t answered this clearly, so ask your food licensing consultant about your exact set-up.
What you must put on your pack and listing
Print these on every food pack:
- The FSSAI logo and the brand owner’s licence number, plus the manufacturer’s licence number if it’s different.
- The veg mark or the non-veg mark, close to the product name on the front. The veg mark is a green filled circle in a green square. The non-veg mark is a brown filled triangle in a brown square.
- Allergens, listed after the word “Contains”, for example milk, nuts, soy or gluten.
- Nutrition information per 100 g or 100 ml.
- The date of manufacture or packing, the expiry or use-by date, and a batch number.
FSSAI wants buyers to see everything you must print on the pack, before they pay. The only exceptions are the batch number, the date of manufacture or packing, and the expiry or use-by date.
In October 2026, FSSAI’s chief executive Rajit Punhani said FSSAI plans to change this rule. Online buyers would then also see these dates and the batch number.
News reports say the plan would also make the apps responsible for misleading claims on their listings. FSSAI hasn’t published a draft yet. We’ll update this article when it does.
Give the platform a clear photo of the front of the pack for your listing. Make sure your FSSAI licence number is on the listing too.
Most importantly, check that every claim on the listing matches what you’ve printed on the pack. FSSAI’s advisory to e-commerce food businesses says this plainly.
Our warehouse shipment checklist covers the other labels that marketplaces check at their warehouses, like MRP and barcodes.
Shelf life: two different checks
FSSAI’s rule applies when the food reaches the customer. It must still have at least 30% of its shelf life left, or 45 days before it expires.
Blinkit’s rule applies earlier, when your stock reaches its warehouse. Blinkit accepts perishable food only if it has 70% to 75% of its shelf life left. So plan your production so that stock reaches the warehouse fresh.
Our guides to selling on Blinkit and the documents Blinkit asks for cover the rest of the process.
Claims that get listings pulled
FSSAI’s rules on claims are strict. Many brands break them on their packs without meaning to:
- You can use “Natural” only for single foods. For a mix of ingredients, you can say “made from natural ingredients”.
- For “Fresh” food, you can only wash, peel, chill, trim or cut it.
- You can use “Pure” only for a single-ingredient food with nothing added.
- “Home-made” and “home cooked” aren’t allowed.
- You can’t call a food “healthy”, or claim it prevents, treats or cures any disease.
- To claim “High protein”, solid food needs at least 20% of the daily recommended protein per 100 g.
FSSAI’s advisory against using “100%” came out in May 2025. It covers labels, packs and promotions.
In August 2026, FSSAI stopped a large FMCG company from selling several products. Their labels said “100% natural” and “100% pure”. FSSAI has also said you can’t use “ORS” in the name of a food product at all.
Does your brand name use a word like “natural”, “fresh” or “pure”? If it could mislead buyers, FSSAI asks you to add a line on the front of the pack. The line says it’s only a brand name and doesn’t describe the product.
Misbranded food can cost you up to ₹3 lakh. A misleading advertisement can cost you up to ₹10 lakh.
Selling without the licence you need can mean up to six months in prison. It can also mean a fine of up to ₹5 lakh.
You don’t need front-of-pack warning labels for food high in sugar, salt or fat yet. The rule isn’t in force.
On 28 September 2026, the Supreme Court reserved its order on this rule, so it will decide later. We’ll update this article when it does.
Where we come in
We design food labels and packs that show everything FSSAI asks for. We write the claims so they stay within the rules.
We also onboard food brands on Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart, with the documents each platform asks for. And we check that each listing matches the pack.
We don’t handle FSSAI licence applications. A food licensing consultant can help you with those.
It all starts with the pack, and that’s our packaging design work.
Back to the makhana. Take “100% Natural” and “Healthy Snack” off the pack before the first print run, not after the first notice.
