Selling Food Online in India: What FSSAI and Legal Metrology Require a Food Listing to Show

What food label information must an online listing show in India?

An online food listing must give the shopper every mandatory label declaration before sale, except the batch number and four date marks. Regulation 4(2) of the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020 says that when food is sold through e-commerce, "the mandatory requirements of the label as given in these regulations shall be provided to the consumer through appropriate means before sale". It then exempts the batch or lot number, best before, use by, expiry date and date of manufacture or packing.

The regulation does not define "appropriate means", and it does not ask for a photograph. In our reading, page text can carry every declaration. FSSAI's e-commerce guidance goes further. Its Guidelines for operations of E-Commerce Food Business Operators, from 2017, and an order dated 18 March 2026 both ask sellers, brand owners and manufacturers to make a legible, clear picture of the principal display panel available to customers. A later section covers that picture.

Two other duties sit alongside it. Legal Metrology Rule 6(10) requires the e-commerce entity to display the package declarations on the platform. FSSAI's advisory of 3 December 2024 says "any product claims made on e-commerce platforms must be fully aligned with the information provided on the product's physical label". Whatever your listing says, as text or as an image, has to match the pack you ship.

Which food label details are exempt on e-commerce listings?

Five details are exempt from FSSAI's before-sale rule for e-commerce: the batch or lot number, best before, use by, expiry date and date of manufacture or packing. Everything else in the table must reach the shopper before sale. In the table, "L&D" means FSSAI's Labelling and Display Regulations 2020 and "LM" means the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011. We read FSSAI's consolidated text, Version VIII dated 9 September 2025.

The third column says only what the rule text says. Apart from the name of the food and the veg or non-veg symbol, which belong on the front of pack, neither set of rules names a physical face. Both require the declarations on the principal display panel, which FSSAI defines as the part of the pack "intended or likely to be displayed or presented or shown or examined by the customer under normal and customary conditions of display, sale or purchase". The definition turns on where shoppers look, and it does not name a side of the box.

Two more label exemptions sit elsewhere in the regulation. A pack of 100 square centimetres or less may leave the ingredients, batch number, nutrition information, licence number and logo and some other items off its own label, as long as the multi-unit package carries them. Some foods need no nutrition panel at all, such as salt, plain tea, coffee and single-ingredient unprocessed foods. The date exemption may not be permanent: FSSAI's press release of 8 July 2025 says it discussed with platforms the possibility of displaying the expiry or use-by date at the consumer interface. The regulation we read still exempts it.

Does FSSAI require a photo of the pack on an online food listing?

FSSAI's e-commerce guidance asks for one, a legible and clear picture of the principal display panel, though the regulation itself does not. Clause 3.3.1 of its Guidelines for operations of E-Commerce Food Business Operators, effective 2 February 2017, covers sellers, brand owners and manufacturers who offer pre-packed food on their own platform or on a marketplace. They "shall ensure that legible and clear picture of the 'principal display panel' of such pre-packed food is made available for viewing by the customers".

FSSAI restated the requirement in an order dated 18 March 2026 on e-commerce in the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) model, whose obligations took effect on 1 April 2026. That version leaves "batch number/lot number, best before, expiry date, date of manufacturing/packing and MRP" out of the picture. In the ONDC split, the seller app must provide the picture and the buyer app must display it.

Read the legal status carefully. The 2017 guidelines say they are to be read as an "explanatory memorandum" and do not replace the regulations, and the regulation itself asks only for "appropriate means". So the regulation does not demand an image, while FSSAI's own guidance expects one. Both come from FSSAI, so plan for the picture.

What did FSSAI's July 2026 e-commerce direction say?

According to myFSSAI, a compliance site run by Food Safety Works rather than by FSSAI, FSSAI issued a direction dated 23 July 2026 telling e-commerce food businesses to bring their listings in line with the labelling rules and to delist non-compliant food products immediately. We could not read the direction itself. As of 30 September 2026 it is not in the Advisories and Orders list on fssai.gov.in or among FSSAI's press releases, so everything in this section comes from myFSSAI's summary, published on 25 July 2026.

The summary says the direction followed FSSAI's advisory of 3 December 2024 and a meeting with e-commerce food businesses on 25 June 2026. It lists these points:

• ✓Every listed food product must comply with FSSAI regulations.
• ✓Listings should show clear images of all sides of the product package.
• ✓Online descriptions must match the declarations printed on the label.
• ✓Misleading advertisements and unsupported promotional content must be removed.
• ✓Organic, vegan and similar claims must be verified before they are displayed.
• ✓Non-compliant food products must be delisted immediately.

Does FSSAI say you must photograph all sides of the pack?

No FSSAI text we could read says so. The "all sides" wording comes from myFSSAI's summary of the July 2026 direction. The FSSAI texts we opened, the 2017 guidelines and the March 2026 order, ask for a picture of the principal display panel, which is not the same thing.

One shot list can meet both readings. Photograph every face that carries a declaration, which the principal display panel picture needs anyway, then add the remaining faces if you want to match the "all sides" wording. If FSSAI publishes the July direction, this section will change.

Why did FSSAI act against Amazon, Flipkart and three other platforms in September 2026?

FSSAI started penal action against Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy Instamart, BigBasket and Zepto over misleading or non-compliant claims, product information, and the sale and display of prohibited and poisonous food articles, according to Business Standard and MediaNama reports of its 23 September 2026 announcement. Business Standard reported that the announcement came in a post on FSSAI's official social media account, and that the action was taken under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and FSSAI's regulations. We found no press release for it on fssai.gov.in.

Business Standard and MediaNama both name three sets of listings. A date-bites snack was flagged on all five platforms for misleading or non-compliant claims. Three dairy products drew concerns about product information and claims on Swiggy Instamart and BigBasket. Datura fruits and seeds, which are poisonous, were listed on BigBasket, Amazon and Swiggy Instamart. The two reports spell the snack's brand differently, so we have left brand names out. Neither report states a penalty.

The penal action, as reported, is against the platforms. It does not move the seller's duty. FSSAI's guidance puts the panel picture on the seller, brand owner or manufacturer, and both its 2017 guidelines and its March 2026 order tell e-commerce businesses to delist any food product on their platform that does not comply with the Act, rules or regulations. A listing that fails is one the platform is told to take down.

What does Legal Metrology Rule 6(10) require on a food listing?

Rule 6(10) of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 says an e-commerce entity "shall ensure that the mandatory declarations as specified in sub-rule (1), except the month and year in which the commodity is manufactured or packed, shall be displayed on the digital and electronic network used for e-commerce transactions". It came in with the 2017 amendment, G.S.R. 629(E), in force from 1 January 2018. We read it in the Department of Consumer Affairs' consolidated book, which includes amendments up to March 2022. None of the four amendments notified in 2026, G.S.R. 128(E), 312(E), 418(E) and 826(E), changes it. We have not read every amendment notified between 2022 and 2025.

For a food pack, the Rule 6(1) declarations that matter are the common or generic name, the net quantity, the retail sale price inclusive of all taxes and, for imported food, the country of origin. For food, the rule hands the name and address declaration and the manufacture date to the Food Safety and Standards Act, and its best-before clause gives way where another law covers dates. So for dates, FSSAI's exemption list is the one to read. Rule 6(11) also asks for a unit sale price on the pack, such as a price per gram or per kilogram. Rule 6(10) refers only to the sub-rule (1) declarations, so it does not name the unit sale price. The rule says "displayed". It does not say picture, and page text meets its wording.

On a marketplace, the rule puts the correctness of the declarations on the manufacturer, seller, dealer or importer when the platform's role is limited to hosting or passing on what they supply, or it does not initiate the transmission, select its receiver, or select or modify the information, and it observes due diligence as an intermediary. The protection falls away if the platform conspired in or aided the breach, or fails to remove the material quickly once it knows or is notified. So the platform must show the declarations, and you answer for whether they are right.

The 2026 amendments are about a search filter, not images. G.S.R. 128(E), dated 13 February 2026 and in force from 1 July 2026, inserted Rule 6(10A): "Every e-commerce entity selling imported products shall provide the product listings of such imported products in a searchable and sortable filter specifying the country of origin." On 27 April 2026, G.S.R. 312(E) substituted a new version of the sub-rule, which says it applies "with effect from the 1st day of July, 2027", and the amending rules themselves come into force on that date. Dhruva Advisors reads this as setting 1 July 2027 as the implementation date. Either way the filter is the platform's duty. Your part is to declare the country of origin accurately for imported food.

Which sides of the pack should you photograph?

Photograph the front and every face that carries a mandatory declaration. The rules ask for the principal display panel, not a number of sides, so the right count depends on how your pack is printed. If you want to match the "all sides" wording in myFSSAI's summary, add the remaining faces. This list is our advice, built from the table above:

• ✓Front of pack: the name of the food and the veg or non-veg symbol, which the regulation places there, and any claim you repeat in your title.
• ✓Ingredients and allergens: the ingredient list, the "Contains" allergen line, and any Schedule II warning such as CONTAINS CAFFEINE.
• ✓Nutrition panel, unless your food is on the exempt list.
• ✓The face with the FSSAI logo and licence number, the brand owner's name and address, and the consumer care details.
• ✓Net quantity, wherever it is printed.
• ✓Imported food: the country of origin and the importer's name, address and FSSAI licence number.

How should you photograph a food label so it is legible?

Shoot each face flat to the lens, without glare, and check that the smallest line is readable on a phone at full zoom. Regulation 4(7) asks for label contents that are "readily legible by the consumer under normal conditions of purchase and use", and FSSAI's guidance asks for a "legible and clear picture". A photo nobody can read fails the guidance's wording. The declarations must be in English or Hindi in Devanagari script, and other languages may appear alongside them.

You do not have to show the batch number or the dates. If a photo does show them, they belong to one batch, and the pack a shopper receives may carry different ones. Reshoot when the printed label changes. FSSAI's 2024 advisory says online claims must match the physical label, and an old photo stops matching once stock with the new label ships.

Can an AI-generated image stand in for the label?

Not for the principal display panel picture, in our reading. FSSAI's guidance asks for a picture of the panel of the pre-packed food itself, and a generated image is a new rendering of that panel. FSSAI's 2017 guidelines and its March 2026 order also say that no "misleading images of food products" may be made available or shown on an e-commerce platform. A label drawn by a model can be wrong in ways a photograph of the pack cannot.

This applies to Picmato too. For food, Picmato can generate a rear-view frame when it has a photo of the back of the pack, and a nutrition-facts frame when a photo shows the nutrition panel clearly enough to read. Both are re-rendered by an image model. They are not photographs of your pack.

Re-rendering can change characters, numbers and units, and nothing in Picmato compares a rendered label with your pack character by character. If you use a generated label frame at all, check every character against the pack, or use the real photo.

Where does Picmato fit in a food listing?

Picmato makes listing images. It does not check a listing against FSSAI or Legal Metrology rules, and you remain responsible for what the listing shows. It imports a listing from Amazon, Walmart, Flipkart or Meesho, and you can upload up to 12 of your own photos in JPG, PNG, WebP or HEIC, enough to cover every face of a pack. It analyses the product before it generates anything, and it reads the text printed on your pack, on a best-effort basis, and shows you what it read. Check that reading against the pack yourself: nothing verifies it, and it can be wrong or incomplete.

Its gallery coverage read marks nine purposes, packaging and label specification among them, as covered, weak or missing, on a best-effort basis. That is a read of the images you supplied, not a legal check. Shots your product data cannot evidence are not offered, and each shot's brief can be edited before generation.