Regulation 2 8 explained: this guide covers what it means, who it applies to, the step-by-step process, documents required, fees, due dates and penalties in India — so you can stay compliant with confidence and avoid costly mistakes.
Regulation 2.8 sets standards for sweetening agents: plantation white, refined, khandsari, bura, cube and icing sugar, misri, honey and its by-products (beeswax and royal jelly), gur or jaggery, dextrose, golden syrup, dried glucose syrup, and the purity specifications of sodium saccharin, aspartame, acesulfame potassium, sucralose and calcium saccharin. The honey clause is the longest, with 17 numbered parameters, including markers that are tested for rice syrup. Honey packers, jaggery makers and sugar traders can start with FSSAI registration for food manufacturers.
This article reads the text as amended up to 21 October 2024 (FSSAI chapter compendium consolidated to amendment 83; the amendment of 10 July 2025 does not change this chapter). Later notifications should be checked on fssai.gov.in. A compendium is a reference consolidation; the Gazette text prevails.
Honey sold as such may not have any food ingredient, including food additives, added to it, and must meet 17 printed parameters from moisture (20.0 per cent maximum) to isotopic ratios. The standards apply to packaged or processed honey. Sugars are judged on sucrose and moisture, and jaggery on moisture, sucrose, total sugars and ash. Additives follow Appendix A.
Sugars, misri: 2.8.1 and 2.8.2
| Product | Defining feature | A few parameters exactly as printed |
|---|---|---|
| Plantation white sugar | crystallised product from sugarcane or sugar beet | moisture not more than 0.5 per cent; sucrose not less than 98 per cent |
| Refined sugar | white crystallised sugar from refining plantation white sugar | sucrose not less than 99.5 per cent |
| Khandsari sugar (sulphur and desi) | sugarcane juice by open pan process | moisture not more than 1.5; sucrose not less than 96.5 (sulphur) and 93.0 (desi) |
| Bura sugar | fine grain size sugar | sucrose not less than 90.0 per cent |
| Cube sugar | cubes or cuboid blocks of refined sugar | sucrose not less than 99.7; total ash not more than 0.03 |
| Icing sugar | pulverised refined or plantation white sugar, with or without starch | moisture not more than 0.80; starch not more than 4.0 on dry basis |
| Misri | candy from any kind of sugar or palmyrah juice | total ash not more than 0.4; total sugar, as sucrose, not less than 98.0 |
White, refined and bura sugars each carry an extraneous matter limit of 0.1 per cent by weight, and khandsari 0.25. A note separates khandsari sugar from plantation white sugar by conductivity and calcium oxide content.
Honey and its by-products: 2.8.3
Honey is the natural sweet substance made by honey bees from nectar or from secretions of plants or excretions of plant sucking insects, which the bees transform, dehydrate, store and leave in the comb to ripen. The standard distinguishes blossom or nectar honey from honeydew honey. Honey must have no visible mould, insects, fragments of bees, wax pieces, sand or other extraneous matter, and may not be heated or processed so far that its essential composition changes or its quality is impaired. A few parameters exactly as printed:
| Parameter | Limit |
|---|---|
| Moisture, per cent by mass | 20.0 maximum |
| Total reducing sugars, per cent by mass | 65.0 minimum (60.0 for Carvia callosa and honeydew honey; 45.0 for blends of honeydew and blossom honey) |
| Sucrose, per cent by mass | 5.0 maximum (10.0 for Carvia callosa and honeydew honey) |
| Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), mg/kg | 80.0 maximum |
| Diastase activity, Schade units per gram | 3.0 minimum |
| Proline, mg/kg | 180.0 minimum |
| C4 sugar, per cent by mass | 7.0 maximum |
| 2-Acetylfuran-3-Glucopyranoside (2-AFGP), marker for rice syrup | Absent (minimum required performance level 1mg/kg) |
The table also covers specific gravity at 27 °C, the fructose to glucose ratio (0.95-1.50), total ash, acidity, acid in milliequivalents per 1000 g, water insoluble matter, pollen count, foreign oligosaccharides, electrical conductivity and three carbon isotope ratio measures. Labels follow the labelling regulations plus honey-specific rules: "Honeydew Honey", "Blend of Honeydew Honey and Blossom Honey", "Carvia Callosa Honey", and "Pressed Honey" where combs without brood are pressed. Monofloral honey needs pollen content of the named plant of not less than 45 percent of the total; multi floral honey is used where no species exceeds 45 percent. Our post on honey purity testing gives the wider overview, and our sister article on antibiotics in seafood and honey covers residue limits.
Beeswax is obtained from honeycombs after honey is removed and may be yellow or white. It is tested against the JECFA method for INS 901, with melting point of 62 – 65 °C, acid value 17 – 24, peroxide value not more than 5, and lead not more than 2.0 mg/kg. Royal jelly is a mixture of secretions of worker bees, with no additive, in two types by what the bees were fed. Moisture is 62-68.5 per cent, 10-HDA is not less than 1.4 per cent, and furosine is an optional freshness parameter.
Jaggery, dextrose and syrups: 2.8.4 to 2.8.7
- Gur or jaggery (2.8.4): from the juice of palmyra palm, date palm or coconut palm; total sugars as invert sugar not less than 90 percent and sucrose not less than 60 percent on dry weight; moisture of non-liquid jaggery not more than 10%.
- Cane jaggery or cane gur (2.8.4, clause 2): from pressed sugarcane juice; as amended on 21 February 2023, the table prints moisture 7.0 maximum, sucrose 70.0 minimum, total sugars 90.0 minimum, reducing sugars 20.0 maximum, sulphate ash 4.0 maximum and a reducing sugars minimum of 5.5. Added colour is not permitted.
- Dextrose (2.8.5): glucose not less than 99.0 per cent on dry basis; sulphated ash not more than 0.1.
- Golden syrup (2.8.6): moisture not more than 25.0, total sugar as invert sugar not less than 72.0.
- Dried glucose syrup (2.8.7): total solids not less than 93.0 per cent, reducing sugar not less than 20.0.
Artificial sweeteners: 2.8.8 to 2.8.12
Sodium saccharin (2.8.8) and calcium saccharin (2.8.12) are tested under IS 5345 for purity (99.0 minimum), moisture (15.0 maximum), benzoate and salicylate, and toluene sulfonamides (25.0 ppm maximum). Aspartame (2.8.9) must contain 98 to 102 per cent aspartame on a dried basis, arsenic not more than 3 ppm and lead not more than 10 ppm. Acesulfame potassium (2.8.10) contains 99 to 101 per cent, with fluoride not more than 3 ppm. Sucralose (2.8.11) contains 98.0 to 102.0 per cent, methanol not more than 0.1 per cent. These are purity specifications of the substances; the levels at which a food may use them are in Appendix A, covered in our articles on the additive tables and on sweeteners, baker's yeast and food-grade acids.
A practical example
Vana Honey packs forest honey. A laboratory checks moisture, HMF, diastase activity and proline against the table. If the company adds a little sugar syrup to improve flow, the product no longer meets the rule that honey sold as such may have no other addition, and markers such as 2-AFGP are among the tests the table holds for rice syrup. The chapter before this one covers sweets, chocolate and cocoa.
Need help with sweetener standards?
Our team can compare your lab reports with the printed parameters and prepare the licence application through FSSAI registration for food manufacturers.
Key takeaways
- Honey sold as such may have nothing added, including additives.
- The honey table prints 17 parameters, including HMF, diastase, proline and a rice syrup marker.
- Sugar standards rest on sucrose and moisture; jaggery on sugars, moisture and ash.
- Cane jaggery was amended on 21 February 2023.
- Sweetener clauses are purity specifications; use levels are in Appendix A.
Read next
- Regulation 2.7: sweets, confectionery, chocolate and cocoa
- Regulations 3.2.9 to 3.2.16: preservatives, antioxidants and thickeners
- Honey standards and purity testing
- Regulations 3.2.2 to 3.2.8: sweeteners, baker's yeast and acids
Disclaimer: Based on the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 as consolidated in FSSAI's chapter-wise compendium (to amendment 83 of 21 October 2024) and the First Amendment Regulations, 2025, as consulted on fssai.gov.in on 2-3 October 2026. Later notifications and the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 provisions referred to should be checked. This article is general information, not legal advice; check the official text before acting.