Label rules › Bangladesh

Bangladesh label requirements for packaging

Packaged food sold in Bangladesh follows the Safe Food (Packaged Food Labelling) Regulations, 2017 — নিরাপদ খাদ্য (মোড়কাবদ্ধ খাদ্য লেবেলিং) প্রবিধানমালা, ২০১৭ — made by the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) under the Food Safety Act 2013. Packaged commodities, food or not, also follow the packaging rules of the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI): a packaging registration, net quantity and the maximum retail price. Here is what goes on the pack.

Checked: 26 October 2026

Mandatory items

Food: the BFSA regulations of 2017

Regulation 3 says the label of food prepared in Bangladesh is written in Bengali; one or more foreign languages may be added beside it. Imported food with a foreign-language label is sold with a Bengali label or sub-label. The label is uncovered, easy to see and read, firmly attached, its letters sized to the pack by international practice — the regulation gives no millimetre figure.

The label states the name and address of the manufacturer, packer, supplier or marketer; the ingredients; the batch, code or lot number; the net weight, volume or number and the total weight; the dates of manufacture and of packaging; the expiry or last date of use and the best-before date; the nutrition information; the food additives; and directions for use when the food cannot be used properly without them.

On a pack whose display surface is under 100 cm², the ingredients, nutrition and directions may be left off when they go in the outer pack at wholesale and as a leaflet for retail buyers who ask. Words such as “recommended by doctors”, cure claims, or anything saying an import is better than local produce are not allowed.

Nutrition and dates

Regulation 15: energy, fat, saturates, carbohydrate, sugar, protein and salt, per 100 g or 100 ml or per serving. Monounsaturates, polyunsaturates, trans fat, cholesterol, polyols, fibre, vitamins and minerals may be added. Food with trans fat also follows the Trans Fatty Acids Based Food Control Regulations 2021 (TFA per 100 g; no “TFA free”).

Regulation 16: perishable food carries the expiry or last date of use, long-keeping food the best-before date, the words joined to the date, written day, month, year, in indelible ink or embossed. Food is not sold past that date, nor with its printed information struck out.

The veg and non-veg mark

Regulation 9: non-vegetarian food (meat, poultry, fish, egg — not milk) carries a brown filled circle inside a square with a brown outline; vegetarian food a green filled circle inside a green square. The square’s side is twice the circle’s diameter. The circle is at least 3 mm across on a main panel up to 100 cm², 4 mm up to 500 cm², 6 mm up to 2,500 cm² and 8 mm above, on a contrasting background as close as possible to the product or brand name. Food whose only animal ingredient is egg says so on an extra label.

Every packaged commodity: BSTI

BSTI’s Standards of Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2021 (amended in 2025) ask packers to hold a packaging registration before they pack for sale, and like the BFSA rules they want the label in Bengali with the product’s name, the importer’s name and address, the dates of manufacture, import and expiry, the net quantity and the maximum retail price. Quantity is stated as net weight, volume or number — never “jumbo”, “approx.” or “economy”. Claims such as “100% halal”, “100% pure” or “export quality” need approved evidence.

Products on BSTI’s compulsory certification list (several hundred items, many foods among them) need a BSTI CM licence, valid three years; only a licensed maker prints the BSTI standard mark, with the licence number BSTI gives. Use the official artwork, never a redrawn one.

Laying it out in Drint

1. Drint has no Bangladesh label kit yet and does not check these rules. Lay the label on the back panel with Insert → Product label or text blocks.
2. Paste the client’s Bengali text as it is — Drint does not translate.
3. Insert → Nutrition table builds a per-100 g table you can edit to the BFSA list.
4. Draw the veg / non-veg mark with a square and a circle at the size above, and leave a frame for the official BSTI mark file.
5. Check in Export still finds text near the cut, low-resolution pictures and ink problems.

Lay out the label in Drint

Questions

A summary written to design packs, not legal advice. Before printing, check the gazetted Bengali text, BSTI’s current compulsory list and packaging registration, and the official BSTI mark with your client or a regulatory consultant.