The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has notified the Food Safety and Standards (Alcoholic Beverages) First Amendment Regulations, 2025, which will come into effect from 1 January 2026.
Key Highlights:
- Introduction of standards and definitions for Alcoholic Ready-to-Drink (RTD) Beverages, Mead (Honey Wine), and Nitro Craft Beer: RTDs are defined as flavoured beverages with alcohol content between 0.5% and 15%, which may include ingredients like juices, herbs, sweeteners, and are permitted to be carbonated. Mead is defined as an alcoholic beverage fermented from honey and water. Nitro Craft Beer is recognised for its carbonation through a mix of carbon dioxide and nitrogen.
- The term “Country/Indian Liquors” has been revised to capture spirits distilled from agricultural carbohydrates into plain (variants, derived from sources such as molasses, jaggery, cereals, fruits, tree sap, mahua flowers, etc) and blended (variants, which are mixes of distilled alcohol, rectified spirit, or neutral spirit) categories.
A copy of the Circular is linked below for further details and ease of reference.
Source: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
