Dev Narsinghani

India Label Index 2026: What 3,798 Indian food labels say about sugar and salt

I ran my Label Checker over every Indian packaged food on Open Food Facts that has an ingredient list. This is what the labels say.

By . He writes about food labels, sleep and AI for marketing.

Published · Data: Open Food Facts, 21,189 products sold in India

What the labels say

6 in 10packaged foods list an added sugar (60%)
4 in 10have a sugar in the first 3 ingredients (42%)
2 in 10list sugar under 2 or more names (19%)
7 in 10biscuits list sugar under 2 or more names (70%)

These numbers leave out plain staples like atta, rice, dal, oil, ghee, spices, tea and coffee, which rarely have added sugar. With them in, the share would look smaller than it is.

Two in three of these foods are ultra-processed (68%, using the NOVA group that Open Food Facts gives each product).

Instant noodles and pasta have a median of 2.5 g of salt in 100 g. That is half of the 5 g a day WHO sets for adults, in one 100 g pack.

Sugar in the first 3 ingredients
Fruit juices and juice drinks: 82% (from 91 products)Fruit juices and juice drinks82% Biscuits and cookies: 80% (from 344 products)Biscuits and cookies80% Chocolate and confectionery: 77% (from 236 products)Chocolate and confectionery77% Soft drinks and energy drinks: 73% (from 130 products)Soft drinks and energy drinks73% Ice cream and frozen desserts: 71% (from 106 products)Ice cream and frozen desserts71% Sauces, ketchup and spreads: 55% (from 337 products)Sauces, ketchup and spreads55% Milk drinks and health drink powders: 52% (from 112 products)Milk drinks and health drink powders52% Cakes and bakery: 50% (from 166 products)Cakes and bakery50% Breakfast cereals and muesli: 33% (from 150 products)Breakfast cereals and muesli33% Dairy (milk, paneer, cheese): 23% (from 154 products)Dairy (milk, paneer, cheese)23% Chips and crisps: 16% (from 163 products)Chips and crisps16% Yoghurt and curd: 15% (from 178 products)Yoghurt and curd15% Tea and coffee: 14% (from 66 products)Tea and coffee14% Namkeen and savoury snacks: 10% (from 105 products)Namkeen and savoury snacks10% Flours, grains and pulses: 3% (from 303 products)Flours, grains and pulses3% Spices and masalas: 3% (from 199 products)Spices and masalas3% Instant noodles and pasta: 3% (from 116 products)Instant noodles and pasta3% Edible oils and ghee: 1% (from 107 products)Edible oils and ghee1%

Share of products in each category with a sugar name among the first 3 ingredients. Ingredients are listed by weight, so a sugar here is a big part of the food. Categories with at least 50 ingredient lists.

Sugar under 2 or more names
Biscuits and cookies: 70% (from 344 products)Biscuits and cookies70% Ice cream and frozen desserts: 43% (from 106 products)Ice cream and frozen desserts43% Breakfast cereals and muesli: 36% (from 150 products)Breakfast cereals and muesli36% Chocolate and confectionery: 34% (from 236 products)Chocolate and confectionery34% Fruit juices and juice drinks: 30% (from 91 products)Fruit juices and juice drinks30% Chips and crisps: 12% (from 163 products)Chips and crisps12% Soft drinks and energy drinks: 12% (from 130 products)Soft drinks and energy drinks12% Milk drinks and health drink powders: 12% (from 112 products)Milk drinks and health drink powders12% Cakes and bakery: 11% (from 166 products)Cakes and bakery11% Sauces, ketchup and spreads: 7% (from 337 products)Sauces, ketchup and spreads7% Namkeen and savoury snacks: 7% (from 105 products)Namkeen and savoury snacks7% Yoghurt and curd: 4% (from 178 products)Yoghurt and curd4% Dairy (milk, paneer, cheese): 4% (from 154 products)Dairy (milk, paneer, cheese)4% Instant noodles and pasta: 4% (from 116 products)Instant noodles and pasta4% Tea and coffee: 3% (from 66 products)Tea and coffee3% Flours, grains and pulses: 2% (from 303 products)Flours, grains and pulses2% Spices and masalas: 1% (from 199 products)Spices and masalas1% Edible oils and ghee: 1% (from 107 products)Edible oils and ghee1%

Share of products that list two or more different sugars, like sugar plus liquid glucose. Splitting sugar into many names can push each one further down the list.

Salt in 100 g, as a share of the daily limit
Instant noodles and pasta: 50% (from 43 products)Instant noodles and pasta50% Chips and crisps: 34% (from 58 products)Chips and crisps34% Cakes and bakery: 21% (from 36 products)Cakes and bakery21% Biscuits and cookies: 11% (from 90 products)Biscuits and cookies11% Sauces, ketchup and spreads: 7% (from 93 products)Sauces, ketchup and spreads7% Chocolate and confectionery: 5% (from 77 products)Chocolate and confectionery5% Breakfast cereals and muesli: 5% (from 54 products)Breakfast cereals and muesli5% Yoghurt and curd: 3% (from 129 products)Yoghurt and curd3% Dairy (milk, paneer, cheese): 2% (from 38 products)Dairy (milk, paneer, cheese)2% Flours, grains and pulses: 1% (from 55 products)Flours, grains and pulses1% Soft drinks and energy drinks: 0% (from 57 products)Soft drinks and energy drinks0%

Median salt in 100 g of each category, shown as a share of the 5 g a day WHO sets for adults. Salt is sodium times 2.5. Categories with at least 30 salt values.

Sugar's other names

After plain sugar, these were the most common sugar names on the labels. The guide explains each one.

Sugar nameProducts
Liquid glucose, glucose syrup274
Invert sugar, invert syrup, golden syrup239
Dextrose, glucose201
Maltose, malt extract, malt syrup100
Jaggery, gur, gud, shakkar95
Fruit juice concentrate81
Honey72
Lactose34
Sweetened condensed milk32
Fructose, fruit sugar23

Every category

CategoryProductsWith ingredient listAny added sugar %Sugar in first 3 %2+ sugar names %Median sugar g/100 gMedian salt g/100 gUltra-processed (NOVA 4) %
Biscuits and cookies79234493.080.270.125.00.5794.2
Sauces, ketchup and spreads71933766.255.26.89.00.3446.4
Flours, grains and pulses6233038.63.31.71.540.0613.2
Chocolate and confectionery49623686.077.134.346.330.2492.8
Spices and masalas44619912.13.01.017.2
Cakes and bakery33316686.150.010.83.811.0776.3
Chips and crisps30816365.616.011.72.51.6971.5
Yoghurt and curd29317819.715.23.94.60.1342.1
Dairy (milk, paneer, cheese)29015423.422.73.94.960.1123.3
Tea and coffee2736616.713.63.025.3
Breakfast cereals and muesli25615064.033.336.09.880.2556.8
Instant noodles and pasta25111667.22.64.32.22.587.0
Soft drinks and energy drinks24113074.673.111.510.550.0293.6
Edible oils and ghee2351070.90.90.98.8
Milk drinks and health drink powders19311252.751.811.660.0
Ice cream and frozen desserts17810686.870.843.495.2
Namkeen and savoury snacks17310552.49.56.73.447.5
Fruit juices and juice drinks1529184.682.429.784.6

Categories with fewer than 30 ingredient lists are left out. A blank cell means fewer than 30 products had that value.

How I did it

  • Source: Open Food Facts, the open food database. I took every product tagged as sold in India: 21,189 products.
  • 4,656 of them have an ingredient list in English. Those are the ones I could read.
  • Baby food and supplements are left out (368 products).
  • Sugar names are found with the same rules as my Label Checker, built on FSSAI and WHO definitions. Fruit juice concentrate counts as a sugar, as WHO counts it. Fibres like FOS, flavour names and "no added sugar" claim text are not counted.
  • Categories come from the Open Food Facts category tags. Salt is the salt value, or sodium times 2.5.
  • I checked every sugar name the code found by hand against its place in the ingredient list, and fixed the rules where they were wrong.

What this can't tell you

  • Open Food Facts is filled in by volunteers. It is not a random sample of every pack in India, and some entries are old or have typing errors.
  • Only 717 of the products with ingredient lists also have a sugar value, so the sugar and salt medians rest on fewer packs than the ingredient findings.
  • A sugar in the list does not tell you how much sugar is in the pack. Read the nutrition table for that.
  • This is about categories. It does not rate any brand or product.

What a red warning label would do

FSSAI has proposed red warnings on the front of packs. I tested Indian foods against Chile's limits: 7 in 10 Indian packaged foods would carry a warning label.

Data and code

How to cite

Narsinghani, D. (2026). India Label Index 2026: What 3,798 Indian food labels say about sugar and salt. https://devnarsinghani22.github.io/india-label-index/. Data from Open Food Facts (ODbL).

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