India’s food safety regulator, FSSAI, has updated its packaging rules to ban plastic and foil packaging for pan masala. Under the new Food Safety and Standards (Packaging) Amendment Regulations, 2026, manufacturers can no longer use plastic-based materials, plastic laminates, aluminum foil, or metallised layers to pack pan masala.
What other plastic packaging is banned?
Tin and glass containers have also been listed as permitted packaging materials for pan masala. The new rules have been notified as the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging) Amendment Regulations, 2026 and will come into force from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette, according to a press release. The FSSAI issued the amendment under the powers granted by the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, with the prior approval of the Central Government. Earlier, the government completely banned plastic sachets used for storing, packing or selling gutkha, tobacco and pan masala under the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016. The Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 prohibited the use of plastic sachets for storing, packing or selling gutkha, tobacco and pan masala.
That said, these materials must be completely free of plastic, including polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and other synthetic polymers, copolymers or laminates. They also said plastic material in any form could not be used for packing these products.
