On 2 August 2026, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued a clarification regarding enforcement action taken against certain alcoholic beverage manufacturers for allegedly using identical flavouring substances and making misleading age-related claims.
Key Clarifications:
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Following media reports concerning action against manufacturers of rum and whisky products, FSSAI has clarified that it does not prohibit the use of permissible flavouring substances in alcoholic beverages where such use is permitted under law and serves a legitimate technological purpose.
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The present issue relates specifically to the practice of adding “rum flavour” to rum or “whisky flavour” to whisky, where such characteristics are expected to develop naturally through fermentation, distillation, maturation and other recognised manufacturing processes.
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According to FSSAI, certain manufacturers were allegedly producing beverages primarily from neutral alcohol, which has little or no characteristic flavour, and then adding external flavouring substances to recreate the taste and aroma associated with standard alcoholic beverages.
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FSSAI has stated that such products may mislead consumers if marketed simply as “rum” or “whisky” and should instead be identified in a manner that accurately reflects their true nature, such as “rum-flavoured spirit” or “whisky-flavoured spirit”.
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In this regard, FSSAI referred to Regulation 5.1 of the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020, which requires every food package to carry a name indicating the true nature of the food on the front of the pack.
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Laboratory testing of certain rum and whisky samples reportedly found the presence of artificial or nature-identical flavours that masked the products’ natural flavour profile, leading to findings of sub-standard quality.
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FSSAI also referred to Regulation 2.5 of the Food Safety and Standards (Alcoholic Beverages) Regulations, 2018, which requires rum to possess the characteristic taste and aroma associated with the product.
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FSSAI further questioned the “7 Years Old Blended” claim on a variant of Old Monk XXX Rum, stating that investigation findings indicated that matured rum spirit constituted only a minor portion of the blend, while the major ingredient was allegedly neutral spirit.
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FSSAI clarified that the issue is not about banning flavouring substances generally, but about adding the flavour of the alcoholic beverage itself, such as ‘rum’ flavour in rum or ‘whisky’ flavour in whisky.
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The regulator compared the practice to adding coffee flavour to coffee or tea flavour to tea, stating that such flavour characteristics are expected to arise inherently from the product itself and not through external flavour addition.
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Based on non-conforming laboratory reports, FSSAI has issued prohibition-of-sale orders in respect of the following products:
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M/s Mohan Rocky Springwater, Khopoli (Old Monk The Legend Rum, Old Monk Gold Reserve Rum and Old Monk XXX Matured Rum);
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M/s United Spirits, Baramati (McDowell’s No. 1 Rum);
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M/s INBREW Beverages, Madhya Pradesh (Bagpiper Deluxe Whisky and Old Cask Deluxe XXX Rum);
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M/s Associated Alcohol & Breweries, Madhya Pradesh (Central Province Whisky and McDowell’s No. 1 Celebration Matured XXX Rum); and
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M/s United Spirits, Madhya Pradesh (Antiquity Blue Whisky and Royal Challenge Whisky).
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FSSAI has also conducted inspections and sampling at the premises of M/s Mandexi Distilleries & Breweries in Goa and issued notices to six other manufacturers in Maharashtra, with further action expected.
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Conditional relaxation has been granted to certain manufacturers, allowing sale of existing stock subject to clear disclosure of the product’s true nature on the front of the package.
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For future production, manufacturers have been directed not to add identical flavours such as rum flavour in rum or whisky flavour in whisky.
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FSSAI has clarified that the issue is not industry-wide and that several manufacturers continue to produce alcoholic beverages that comply with the prescribed standards.