The Diwali box
Diwali is on 8 November. Many families will buy or gift a box of mithai and a packet of namkeen. I read the ingredient lists of 40 packaged mithai and 294 packaged namkeen sold in India to see what the labels say about sugar, fat and colours.
What to check on a mithai box in 5 seconds
- Read the first ingredient. Indian labels list ingredients from most to least by weight. In 19 of 40 mithai lists the first one is sugar, sugar syrup or jaggery, and in 34 of 40 sugar is first or second. Milk solids, khoa, gram flour or cashew first means the sweet is built on that.
- Find the fat. Of the 21 mithai lists that name a fat, 12 name palm oil (often written palmolein) and 7 name a hydrogenated, vanaspati or interesterified fat (oils processed to stay solid). Only 6 of the 21 use ghee and no other fat. 3 of the 9 lists that name ghee also name another fat or oil, 2 of them palm oil, so the word ghee on a box does not mean ghee is the only fat. The other 19 lists name no added fat or oil.
- Look for a colour code. 6 of 40 mithai lists add a colour, and all 6 are synthetic: INS 110 (sunset yellow FCF) in 5, INS 102 (tartrazine) in 4, INS 122 (carmoisine) in 1. Colours are written as INS numbers, usually in brackets after the word colour.
- Count the sugar names. 7 of 40 mithai lists name more than one sugar. Liquid glucose, a sugar syrup, is on 7 of 40.
- For namkeen, find the oil and check the salt. 172 of 283 namkeen lists that name a fat name palm oil. In the nutrition table, the middle namkeen pack has 1.3 g of salt in every 100 g (41 packs), about a quarter of the 5 g a day WHO sets for adults.
Paste any ingredient list into the Label Checker and it marks every sugar name for you.
Quick answers
How much sugar is in packaged mithai?
The ingredient order is the quickest clue, because ingredients are listed from most to least by weight. Sugar, sugar syrup or jaggery is the first ingredient in 19 of 40 packaged mithai lists (48%), and sugar is first or second in 34 of 40 (85%). 39 of 40 list a sugar somewhere. Only 5 of the 40 had a sugar value in the nutrition table, too few for an average.
Do packaged mithai use ghee?
Some do, many do not. 21 of 40 mithai lists name a fat or oil. Of those 21, 9 name ghee and 6 use ghee with no other fat. 12 of the 21 name palm oil or palmolein (57%), and 7 of the 21 name a hydrogenated, vanaspati or interesterified fat (oils processed to stay solid). 3 of the 9 lists that name ghee also name another fat or oil, 2 of them palm oil.
Do packaged mithai have added colours?
6 of 40 mithai lists add a colour (15%), and all 6 are synthetic colours: INS 110 (sunset yellow FCF) in 5, INS 102 (tartrazine) in 4, INS 122 (carmoisine) in 1. The other 34 lists name no colour. A colour code tells you a colour was added. It does not say how much.
What other INS numbers are on a mithai box?
Mostly preservatives: INS 202 (potassium sorbate) in 6, INS 200 (sorbic acid) in 2, INS 211 (sodium benzoate) in 1, INS 223 (sodium metabisulphite) in 1, INS 224 (potassium metabisulphite) in 1, out of 40 lists. 10 of 40 mithai lists carry at least one INS number.
Which oil is in packaged namkeen?
Palm oil, most often. 283 of 294 namkeen lists name a fat or oil, and 172 of 283 of those name palm oil or palmolein (61%). 16 of 283 (5.7%) name a hydrogenated, vanaspati or interesterified fat. One brand makes up 67 of 294 namkeen lists; without it, palm oil is named in 120 of 218 lists that name a fat (55%).
Would namkeen carry FSSAI's proposed warning?
Almost all of them. Of 40 namkeen packs with a full nutrition table, 39 would carry it under FSSAI's current plan, where one high nutrient is enough. 38 of the 40 are high in added fat and 34 of the 40 in salt, by the ICMR-NIN limits FSSAI cited to the Supreme Court. Labels give total fat, not added fat, so when an oil is listed all the fat counts as added, and the fat count is an upper estimate. 17 of the 40 come from one brand; without it, 23 of 23 are warned. Only 4 mithai had a full nutrition table, too few for a share; 4 of those 4 would be warned, all for added sugar.
What are the INS numbers on a namkeen pack?
INS numbers are codes for additives. The most common in these namkeen lists: INS 330 (citric acid, an acidity regulator) in 86 of 294; INS 551 (silicon dioxide, an anticaking agent) in 35 of 294; INS 627 (disodium guanylate, a flavour enhancer) in 25 of 294; INS 631 (disodium inosinate, a flavour enhancer) in 25 of 294; INS 296 (malic acid, an acidity regulator) in 18 of 294. 28 of 294 namkeen lists add a colour and 8 of them a synthetic one. The colours named most are INS 141 (copper chlorophylls, 8 of 294), INS 160c (paprika extract, 7 of 294), INS 133 (brilliant blue FCF, 6 of 294). Some lists name an additive in words instead of a number, so the real counts can be higher.
Every measure
| Measure | Mithai | Namkeen |
|---|---|---|
| Lists read | 40 | 294 |
| A sugar named anywhere | 98% (39 of 40) | 37% (110 of 294) |
| Sugar, sugar syrup or jaggery is the 1st ingredient | 48% (19 of 40) | 0% (0 of 294) |
| Sugar is the 1st or 2nd ingredient | 85% (34 of 40) | 1.0% (3 of 294) |
| 2 or more sugar names | 18% (7 of 40) | 1.4% (4 of 294) |
| Names a fat or oil | 53% (21 of 40) | 96% (283 of 294) |
| Of those: palm oil | 57% (12 of 21) | 61% (172 of 283) |
| Of those: hydrogenated, vanaspati or interesterified | 33% (7 of 21) | 5.7% (16 of 283) |
| Of those: ghee | 43% (9 of 21) | 1.8% (5 of 283) |
| Of those: ghee and no other fat | 29% (6 of 21) | 0.4% (1 of 283) |
| Adds a colour | 15% (6 of 40) | 9.5% (28 of 294) |
| Adds a synthetic colour | 15% (6 of 40) | 2.7% (8 of 294) |
| Lists at least one INS number | 25% (10 of 40) | 37% (108 of 294) |
| FSSAI's proposed warning (full nutrition table only) | 4 of 4 | 98% (39 of 40) |
INS numbers listed most
| Food | Code | What it is | Lists |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mithai | INS 202 | potassium sorbate, a preservative | 6 of 40 |
| Mithai | INS 110 | sunset yellow FCF, an orange colour | 5 of 40 |
| Mithai | INS 102 | tartrazine, a yellow colour | 4 of 40 |
| Mithai | INS 200 | sorbic acid, a preservative | 2 of 40 |
| Mithai | INS 122 | carmoisine, a red colour | 1 of 40 |
| Mithai | INS 211 | sodium benzoate, a preservative | 1 of 40 |
| Mithai | INS 223 | sodium metabisulphite, a preservative (a sulphite) | 1 of 40 |
| Mithai | INS 224 | potassium metabisulphite, a preservative (a sulphite) | 1 of 40 |
| Namkeen | INS 330 | citric acid, an acidity regulator | 86 of 294 |
| Namkeen | INS 551 | silicon dioxide, an anticaking agent | 35 of 294 |
| Namkeen | INS 627 | disodium guanylate, a flavour enhancer | 25 of 294 |
| Namkeen | INS 631 | disodium inosinate, a flavour enhancer | 25 of 294 |
| Namkeen | INS 296 | malic acid, an acidity regulator | 18 of 294 |
| Namkeen | INS 500 | sodium carbonates, such as baking soda | 11 of 294 |
| Namkeen | INS 141 | copper chlorophylls, a green colour | 8 of 294 |
| Namkeen | INS 160c | paprika extract, a red colour | 7 of 294 |
| Namkeen | INS 319 | TBHQ, an antioxidant that keeps oil from going rancid | 7 of 294 |
How I did it
- Source: Open Food Facts, every product tagged as sold in India (21,189 products, read on 1 October 2026), of which 4,656 have an ingredient list in English.
- Open Food Facts tags almost no Indian sweets as such, so I built the two sets. A local AI model, qwen3:14b running on my laptop, first sorted 1,918 lists into mithai, namkeen, other festive foods and the rest. I checked 50 of its answers by hand without looking at them first: 39 were right (78%), under the 90% I had set, so I did not use its sort. Instead I read every candidate myself: lists whose name or category says mithai or namkeen, the model's picks, and lists whose ingredients look like one. The model had found 39 of my 40 mithai and 222 of my 294 namkeen, but it also called 51 other foods mithai, mostly chikki, shrikhand and toffees.
- Mithai = a ready-to-eat traditional Indian sweet: soan papdi, laddoo, barfi, peda, kaju katli, petha, gulab jamun, rasgulla and the like. Left out: chikki and other brittles, mixes to make sweets at home, kheer, rabri and shrikhand, kulfi, toffees, and date-and-nut balls sold as health snacks.
- Namkeen = a savoury Indian snack: bhujia, sev, mixture, chivda, chakli, murukku, mathri, khakhra, bhakarwadi, fried dal, boondi, gathiya, coated or salted peanuts, flavoured makhana, soya sticks and banana chips. Left out: potato chips, corn and other puffed snacks, popcorn, crackers, raw dal, papad and plain nuts. (The palm oil study counted namkeen by Open Food Facts' own category, 99 lists that name a fat, so its namkeen numbers differ from these.)
- Sugar names use the rules of my Label Checker. The first ingredient is the first item in the list, split at commas, "&" and "and", outside brackets: in "milk solids & sugar", sugar is second.
- Fats use the rules of Which fat is in the pack?. Ghee = ghee, clarified butter or butter oil. A list that says "one or more of" several oils counts for each oil it names.
- A colour counts when the list says colour, gives a colour INS or E number (100 to 199) or names a dye. Synthetic = the list says synthetic or artificial colour, or names a synthetic dye such as tartrazine (INS 102) or sunset yellow (INS 110). Turmeric listed as a spice is not counted as a colour.
- The warning uses the method of If FSSAI's warning labels started today: the ICMR-NIN limits FSSAI cited to the Supreme Court, and a warning when any one of added sugar, added fat or salt is high. Only packs with a full nutrition table can be tested. Added fat is total fat when an oil or fat is listed, so the fat numbers are an upper estimate.
- Ingredients are listed from most to least by weight under FSSAI's Labelling and Display Regulations, 2020, which also ask for each additive's job, such as colour, with its name or INS number. The 5 g of salt a day is the WHO limit for adults.
What this can't tell you
- Mithai bought loose from a sweet shop has no ingredient list, so this covers packaged boxes only. 40 mithai lists is a small set; treat the shares as rough.
- The order of the list tells you which ingredient weighs most, not how much of it there is. Read the nutrition table for amounts.
- One brand makes up 67 of 294 namkeen lists and 17 of the 40 namkeen packs tested for the warning. The numbers without it are given above. In mithai, the biggest brand is 7 of 40 lists; without it, 15 of 33 start with sugar, sugar syrup or jaggery.
- FSSAI's final warning rule is not out: the Supreme Court reserved its order on 28 September 2026 (LiveLaw), and the limits may change.
- A colour or additive code says nothing about whether the amount is safe.
- It covers categories, not brands, and rates no product.
Data and code
- Every number on this page with the count behind it (CSV) and the full results (JSON)
- Code: https://github.com/devnarsinghani22/india-label-index (diwali.py, with self-tests for the colour, INS and first-ingredient rules). The hand-sorted list of which products are mithai or namkeen is festive_labels.csv in the same place: barcodes only, no brand names.
- Licence: the data comes from Open Food Facts under the Open Database License. You can reuse these numbers with credit to Open Food Facts and this page.
See also Which fat is in the pack? and If FSSAI's warning labels started today. Part of the India Label Index 2026.
Narsinghani, D. (2026). The Diwali box. India Label Index 2026. https://devnarsinghani22.github.io/india-label-index/diwali/. Data from Open Food Facts (ODbL). DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23245062.