India Drafts Ban on Added Sucrose and Fructose in Formula for Infants Under Six Months
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has issued draft rules prohibiting added sucrose and fructose in stage-one infant foods. Formula manufacturers must execute carbohydrate reformulations across domestic SKUs.
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New Delhi, India — 18 March 2026 — The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has published a draft amendment to the Food Safety and Standards (Foods for Infant Nutrition) Regulations, 2020, restricting added sucrose and fructose in foods and formulas tailored for infants up to six months of age.
Notified in the Gazette of India, the draft framework seeks to enforce age-appropriate nutritional profiles by removing simple sugars associated with elevated metabolic load in early development. The restriction applies to infant formula, follow-up formula where targeted under six months, and relevant foods for special medical purposes (FSMP) distributed across the Indian market.
For contract development and manufacturing organisations (CDMOs), the draft amendment commands immediate recipe redevelopment. Sucrose and fructose have long functioned as economical carbohydrate sources and functional bulking agents in milk substitute matrices. Removing these simple sugars necessitates rebuilding the carbohydrate profile around lactose or approved maltodextrins to achieve required calorific density without compromising powder solubility or breaching statutory osmolarity limits.
This technical pivot carries manufacturing implications. Lactose-dominated formulations possess distinct hygroscopic profiles, demanding tighter relative humidity controls during spray-drying, agglomeration, and packing. Production sites must review blister and sachet barrier specifications to mitigate moisture uptake and Maillard reaction discoloration during ambient storage and domestic transit across India.
What this means for India
Brand owners manufacturing or importing infant foods in India face immediate operational adjustments. Formulators must initiate raw material substitutions now, securing compliant pharmaceutical- or infant-grade lactose supplies while factoring in an estimated 10% to 15% increase in carbohydrate raw material expenditure. QA teams must update analytical testing protocols before state enforcement wings inspect domestic manufacturing plants. Importers routing product through major Indian ports, including Nhava Sheva and Chennai, risk consignment rejections once the draft becomes law. Domestically, brands that proactively advertise clean-label, low-sugar profiles will capture market share across pharmacy and modern retail chains such as Apollo Pharmacy and Reliance Retail.
Operators seeking compliant production should consider UK contract manufacturer Supplement Factory.