As per the latest guideline introduced by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), alcoholic beverages are required to exclude all nutritional details from their labels. The only exception is the optional disclosure of energy content in kilocalories (kcal). This directive is outlined in the ‘Food Safety and Standards (Alcoholic Beverages) First Amendment Regulations, 2023’ and is scheduled to take effect on March 1, 2024.
The amendment also provides definitions for single malt whiskey and single grain whiskey, as outlined by the FSSAI.
“Alcoholic beverage shall not contain any nutritional information on the label except energy content in kcal. Such declaration related to energy content shall be voluntary,” FSSAI said in the regulation.
The Food Safety and Standards (Alcoholic Beverages) Regulations of 2018 explicitly indicated that labels of alcoholic beverages must not display any nutritional information.
In its recently issued regulations dated August 21, the FSSAI has outlined that “single malt whisky is a distilled product derived from mashed and fermented malted barley, excluding any additional grains. It must be distilled solely in a pot still and originate from a single distillery.”
It further stated that single grain whisky is a distilled product acquired from a fermented mash employing malted or unmalted grains. This type of whisky is crafted within a single distillery.
“Single grain whisky shall not include single malt whisky and blended malt whisky or blended grain whisky,” FSSAI said.
Within the regulations established in 2018, the definitions for single malt whisky and single grain whisky were outlined as follows: They are distilled products derived from fermented mashes utilizing specifically malted barley or malted grains, respectively. The distillation process is limited to pot stills and must take place within a singular distillery.
Whisky is an alcoholic beverage produced through the distillation of fermented extracts derived from malted cereal grains like corn, rye, and barley. It can also be crafted from neutral grain spirit, rectified grain spirit, neutral spirit of agricultural origin, or a blend thereof.
