India Food Stats

Alka-Seltzer was developed by Maurice Treneer and launched in 1931. It was marketed for relief of minor aches, pains, inflammation, fever, headache, heartburn, stomach ache, indigestion, acid reflux, and hangovers while neutralizing excess stomach acid. The original effervescent formula had aspirin as its main active ingredient. Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) is not required to produce the effervescent action of Alka-Seltzer; the effervescence is produced by the baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and citric acid reacting to form sodium citrate and carbon dioxide gas. citric acid + sodium bicarbonate → water + carbon  dioxide + sodium citrate The carbon dioxide bubbles are what cause the effervescence. The effervescent antacid and pain reliever brand is owned by Bayer since 1978. In 2017, Bayer decided to reformulate certain Alka-Seltzer effervescent products to remove the pain reliever, and related indications, in order to focus exclusively on occasional heartburn and upset stomach ...

Ever noticed how some packs treat the ingredients and nutrition panel like a top-secret document? The font is so tiny you need a magnifying glass to read it. Image: Open Food Facts The ingredients and nutrition details aren’t just printed in microscopic font — they’re arranged in a neat little circle, forcing your eyes to chase the text around the lid like a dizzy hamster on a wheel. Technically compliant? Absolutely. Actually readable without spinning the pack, squinting, and questioning your life choices? Highly debatable. Technically, everything required by regulation is there. Legally speaking, the company has done its job. Practically speaking, the information is printed in a size that suggests the manufacturer is hoping you’ll just… not bother. In that forest of tiny letters are the usual suspects — generous amounts of sugar, a solid helping of fat, and just enough “edible vegetable oil” to remind you this isn’t quite the dairy dream the front of the pack is selling. The word “de...

There’s a special kind of magic in the freezer aisle. You reach for something that looks like ice cream, feels like ice cream and tastes remarkably like ice cream.  Then you flip the pack over and discover you’ve actually been invited to a slightly more complicated party. Images: Open Food Facts The ingredients list reads like a carefully negotiated treaty between dairy and the vegetable kingdom: potable water, sugar, milk solids, and then refined palm oil (along with its friends maltodextrin, starch, emulsifiers, stabilisers, and a supporting cast of colours and nature-identical flavours). The pack helpfully notes it contains 4.5% edible vegetable oil. That’s the quiet plot twist. What you’re enjoying isn’t ice cream at all, but a frozen dessert. So yes, you can call it “fake ice cream” if you’re feeling dramatic. Just know the manufacturers have already done the legal paperwork and called it something else. It looks the part. It melts the part. It delivers that soft, creamy hit o...

In India, a green dot inside a green square indicates that the food contains no meat, eggs, or animal products. So what happens when you pick up a tub of SuperYou Pro Fermented Yeast Protein (Chocolate) , spot the official Green Dot India icon on the label, turn it around to read the nutrition table, and see Cholesterol 2.84mg listed right there?  Image: Open Food Facts It feels like a contradiction. We are conditioned to believe two fundamental ideas: Cholesterol only comes from animals. The Green Dot means 100% vegetarian. If both are true, is the green dot a mistake? Is the brand breaking the rules, or is our basic biology textbook out of date? The Science: Where Did the Cholesterol Come From? Let's look at what is inside this tub. The protein source in SuperYou Pro isn't whey (which comes from cow's milk) or soy/pea (which comes from plants). It is Fermented Yeast Protein Isolate, specifically made using Saccharomyces cerevisiae —the exact same microorganism used for ce...

McVitie's Coconut Cookies sounded like a tropical escape. The ingredient list, however, reveals that the coconut seems to have missed the flight. 😄 With just 1.8% desiccated coconut powder , and the coconut experience leaning on nature identical and artificial flavouring substances, the cookie feels more "coconut-inspired" than truly coconut. Some older labels show the coconut content was 2.4% in the recent past. A little more real coconut and a little less help from the flavour lab could make these cookies live up to their delicious name. Here's hoping a future recipe lets the coconut do more of the talking!

Walk down the rusk aisle in any supermarket and you'll be greeted with cheerful promises of "Real Elaichi".  Pictures of green cardamom pods, comforting cups of chai, and words like Premium and Authentic practically guarantee a fragrant tea-time experience. Then comes the ingredient list. It turns out that in several products, the real elaichi is indeed present... just perhaps not quite as prominently as the front of the pack might lead one to imagine. Before going any further, an important disclaimer: The ingredient data below comes from product labels available on Open Food Facts, a community-maintained food database & Amazon India. Manufacturers may reformulate products over time, so the current product in the market may differ from the information presented here. Always refer to the label on the pack you purchase. How much "real elaichi" is actually there? Based on the ingredient declarations: Product Declared cardamom content Tata Soulfull Rusk Elaich...

Alpino's High Protein Super Oats Chocolate  seems to have gone through an interesting makeover between 2024 and 2026.  Front of pack advertising 22% Protein before reformulation in 2026 At first glance, the bold new "25% Protein" badge prominently displayed on the front of the pack suggests a major nutritional breakthrough.  But a closer look at the ingredient list tells a rather amusing story. Alpino High Protein Super Oats: Ingredient Comparison (2024 vs 2026)   Ingredient 2024 Formula 2026 Formula Change Rolled Oats 61% Rolled Oats 51.6% Rolled Jumbo Oats ⬇ Reduced by 9.4% Peanut Butter 22% Unsweetened Peanut Butter 22% Natural Peanut Butter No Change Soya Protein 9% Textured Soya Protein ...

La Opala novo collection coffee cups are officially 100% vegetarian  —it proudly sports a green dot on its packaging. Image source: Open Products Facts In India, that green dot is the sacred badge of honor usually reserved for packets of biscuits, instant noodles, or paneer that solemnly swear they contain zero animal products. But La Opala? They're taking it to the next level. Their opal glass crockery is bone-ash free , which means no sneaky animal bones were harmed (or melted down) in the making of your morning chai cup. It's like the company looked at the cutthroat world of dinnerware and thought, "You know what this industry needs? More ethics." While your average ceramic mug might be hiding some dark, bone-related secrets from its manufacturing past, La Opala's Novo collection struts around with a clear conscience. No animals were involved—just pure, innocent glass goodness. The packaging doesn't stop there. It cheerfully lists other credentials: microwa...

Gulkand is a sugary preserve made of rose petals. It is a popular, deeply aromatic delicacy widely consumed across the Indian subcontinent. The word originates from Persian, where gul means rose and qand means sweet/sugar. Essentially, it is a traditional rose petal jam . Image: Open Food Facts What Exactly Is It? Gulkand is made by layering fresh, fragrant rose petals (traditionally Damask or desi roses) with sugar or honey in a glass jar. The jar is then left out in the sun for several weeks to naturally ferment and cook, turning the mixture into a thick, sweet, and highly flavorful paste. No artificial additives needed. Rose petals are the core ingredient. High-quality versions use fragrant petals almost exclusively, sometimes with minor additions like cardamom, saffron, or fennel for depth. The petals provide the signature rosy flavor, color, and bioactive compounds. The slow sugar infusion creates a unique semi-solid texture — petal pieces suspended in a fragrant syrup — tha...

Some food packets quietly list ingredients and move on with their lives. Others arrive with the energy of a multilingual UN conference. Enter the delightfully overqualified label on  Parag Moong Punjabi Papad At first glance, it is a standard papad packet: moong dal, black pepper, cumin, asafoetida, edible oil. Familiar territory. Source:  Open Food Facts Then you turn the packet over. And discover the ingredients listed in six languages! The label marches confidently through: English Hindi Spanish French German Arabic Somewhere between the English and German sections, you begin wondering whether the papad itself has a passport. The ingredient list also contains one of the most unintentionally dramatic phrases ever printed on a snack packet: Plant Based Sodium Bicarbonate (Saaji) Not “baking soda.” Not even “raising agent.” No. This papad chose scientific prestige. “Plant Based Sodium Bicarbonate” sounds like something presented at a sustainability conference by a startup foun...

The next time you grab a pack of Bingo potato chips , get ready for a mini detective mission! 🕵️‍♂️  The ingredients list says 'Edible Vegetable Oil' (because who doesn't love a surprise?), but to crack the actual oil code, you need to play match-the-symbol with your batch number. Look for that ^ or ^^ printed near the batch code – one means refined palmolein, the other refined rice bran oil. It's like the manufacturer turned the label into a puzzle book.  Images: OpenFoodFacts.org The saturated fat content can vary between 3.2g to 16.6g per 100g based on which type of oil has been used. Pro tip: Keep your eyes peeled before munching – knowledge is power (and sometimes it's palmolein).

Food companies often update their recipes to improve taste, cost, shelf life, or nutrition. Sometimes they make small changes to the ingredients while keeping the same barcode and product name. This can confuse customers who expect the exact same formula every time. A good example is Alpino Super Oats Chocolate (Barcode: 8906127551086). Label showing ingredients in March 2026 Here’s what changed between the old and new version:   Aspect Old Formula ( 2024 ) New Formula ( 2026 ) Rolled Oats 61% 61% Unsweetened Peanut Butter 26% 22% Protein Source Alpino Supernatural Peanut Protein Textured Soya Protein (9%) Nuts & Seed Mix Chia Seeds, Almonds, Raisins, Sunflower Seeds Almond, Raisin, Sunflower Seeds (no chia) Cocoa Powder Yes Yes Monk Fruit Extract Yes Yes ...

In Indian kitchens, most of us instinctively reach for that familiar-looking 1-litre pouch of cooking oil, expecting exactly one litre inside. However, many popular cooking oil brands now sell their products in pouches that look very similar to the standard 1-litre size, but actually contain slightly less oil — often 850 ml, 900 ml, or 950 ml. Some brands use tall, slim bottles to create a visual illusion and make 850g of oil look identical to a 1L bottle on a crowded supermarket shelf. This is psychological pricing in action. Consumers are very sensitive to a price jump from say ₹145 to ₹160. They are much less sensitive to the weight dropping from 910g to 850g if the price stays at ₹145. This practice, sometimes called “shrinkflation” or “non-standard sizing,” has become increasingly common in recent years. While the pack design, shape, and branding make the pouch appear almost identical to a full 1-litre pack, the actual volume printed on the label is smaller. For the average buye...

Usually, Indian milk sachets just scream 'double toned' and call it a day, but Sudha Dairy decided to go full philosopher mode. The message in the box at the bottom of a milk packet is a anti-dowry slogan in Hindi: Image - Open Food Facts Transliteration: Jab tak rahegi dahej pratha, beti rahegi dukhhi sada. English translation: 'As long as the dowry system exists, a daughter will always remain unhappy.' Sudha Milk is the flagship brand of COMFED (Bihar State Cooperative Milk Producers' Federation Limited). It dominates the market across every district in Bihar and has a massive presence in Jharkhand (with major dairies in Ranchi, Jamshedpur, and Bokaro). In rural Bihar and Jharkhand, where the milk packet reaches millions of kitchens every morning, it's one of the most effective "billboards" for spreading social messages about education, health, and social reforms like this anti-dowry slogan.

Data and pictures from Open Food Facts show that back in 2024 , the front label proudly declared Storia 100% Pomegranate Juice, promising a bottle full of pure pomegranate goodness with no added sugar and no preservatives.  Fast-forward a little, and the packaging got a quiet update. The bold “100%” on the front quietly stepped aside, and the product now simply reads Storia Pomegranate Juice . Same vibrant bottle, same confident vibe… but the front is suddenly a little more… modest. You flip it around to the ingredients list, and that’s where the plot thickens.  In the most polite, regulatory-approved way possible: Water, Fruit Juice [Apple Concentrate 12% & Pomegranate Juice Concentrate 4%], Salt, Acidity Regulators [INS 331(iii), INS 330], Stevia [INS 960] and Antioxidant [INS 300]. Right below is the declaration:   Equivalent to 100% Fruit Juice (Reconstituted)   and   CONTAINS ADDED NATURE IDENTICAL FLAVOURING SUBSTANCES (POMEGRANATE) Ah, ...

Walk into any MedPlus pharmacy and you’ll likely spot Eatrite Ragi Squares (Chocolate flavour) proudly displayed right at the front — right next to the protein bars and multivitamins. The branding screams “wholesome goodness”: 54% ragi flour (a super millet loaded with calcium, fibre and all those desi-health-hero credentials). Perfect for the calorie-conscious Indian who wants to feel virtuous while snacking, right? Not so fast. Take a closer look at the front packaging and you’ll see cute little chocolate slabs staring back at you, practically winking at anyone with even a mild weakness for cocoa. Yet when you check the actual ingredients, the product contains more sugar than cocoa powder. Images: OpenFoodFacts Here’s the reality check: Ragi flour: 54% → genuinely impressive Refined sugar: 10% → that’s a solid 1 in 10 parts of the product Chocolate cream filling: a whopping 25% (which itself brings even more sugar, milk solids and vegetable fat) Cocoa powder: just 3% So yes — there’s...

Back in 2023, the nutrition label for Thirumala Paneer 400g ( brand owned by Lactalis , the largest dairy group in the world by revenue) showed it had 14g of protein per 100g.  Fast forward to 2026, and the current label now lists 18.5g of protein per 100g . Images -  OpenFoodFacts.org Same ingredients (Milk solids & Nisin), almost same cost (Rs 200 then, Rs 198 now), different bar codes, more protein ( 4g per 100gm)! The protein content is lower than that of low-fat, high-protein paneer brands like Akshayakalpa Organic High Protein Paneer   ( 28g per 100gm) or Milky Mist high Protein Paneer   ( 25g per 100gm), but at around Rs 200 for 400gms, it offers good value for money compared to other regular Paneer brands that provide about 16g protein per 100g. Also see - Paneer Unwrapped:  A comparison of Paneer products . Note - I don't endorse Thirumala Paneer and it's just some label spotting I did while I contribute data to OpenFoodFacts.org

Real Green Apple is a ready to serve fruit beverage from Dabur that claims to offer " the magical experience of the exotic taste of Green Apple ". Its primary ingredients are Water, Sugar , Apple Juice (22%) reconstituted from Apple Juice Concentrate Data & Image: Open Food Facts The 180ml can contains 22% fruit juice content reconstituted from Apple Juice Concentrate and 15.48 g of added sugar along with the sweetener Steviol Glycosides, Acidity Regulators (INS 296, INS 330, INS 334& INS 331), Flavours (Natural & Nature Identical Flavouring Substances), Stabilizer (INS 466) & Colours (INS 102 & INS 133).  21 ingredients overall! On the other hand, an actual medium sized green apple (about 182g) contains 0.6g of protein and 4.4g of fiber. It is packed with antioxidants, particularly Quercetin and Catechin that are good for health. Always read the label to know what's REAL.  Look up Open Food Facts to find out if a packaged food product is u...

When I saw “Millet Bread,” I imagined something super healthy. But Mr. Bakewell’s version has only 11.7% millet flour! Image - OpenFoodFacts.org They probably added just enough to put the word on the label. The primary ingredient is Maida. Reminder: don’t trust the front of the pack — the real story is always hiding on the back.

Saffola Active Cooking Oil used to come as 1 litre (910g) pouch in 2024. The new pack looks almost exactly the same, but if you look carefully, the quantity is now 850g. All images: OpenFoodFacts.org Saffola Tasty+, which similarly used to come in 910g or 1 litre packs , is now just 820g—making it even less than Saffola Active. So if you thought you were paying less due to the GST changes, you might not realise that you’re actually getting less oil — unless you check the label VERY closely. The food you cook with it may still taste great, but this sneaky reduction in quantity definitely doesn’t feel good!