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Myanmar label requirements for packaging

Prepacked food sold in Myanmar follows the Directive for labelling of prepackaged foods — FDA Directive 8/2022 of 20 January 2022, made by the Myanmar Food and Drug Board of Authority under the National Food Law and in force since January 2023. It follows the Codex general standard closely, adds a Myanmar letter-height rule, and sits beside the FDA’s food product notification and the consumer-protection rules on Burmese. Here is what goes on the pack.

Checked: 26 October 2026

Mandatory items

The eight mandatory items

Paragraph 5: the name of the food; the list of ingredients; the net content and drained weight; the name and address; the country of origin; the lot; the date marking; the instructions for use — each by the Myanmar standard or the Codex standard for that food. The name and net content stand on the front of the pack (para. 4 d).

The name tells what the food truly is (“peanut oil”, “plum jam”, “fish paste”); a brand name cannot be the food’s name; a place in the name means the food, its ingredient or its traditional method comes from there, or the word “style” is added. Added flavour is named “flavoured”, with “natural” or “artificial” where it applies.

Ingredients are listed in descending order of weight; a compound ingredient over 5 % lists its own in brackets. Gluten cereals, crustaceans, egg, fish, peanuts and soybeans, milk and lactose, tree nuts and sulphite from 10 mg/kg are always in bold or in a specific allergy notice; a precautionary line covers possible cross-contact. Pork fat, lard and beef fat are named as such.

Language and letter size

Paragraph 4 e: the label is written in Myanmar language or a language the buyers accept, and may use more than one. When an imported label is in a language buyers do not read, only the essential information is added in the required language, exactly as on the original label.

Paragraph 23: the text is readable with normal eyesight, contrasts with its background and is never lost in the design; the Myanmar letter “ဝ” and the Latin “o” are at least 1 mm high; headings are larger than body text, and type grows with the pack.

The Central Committee for Consumer Protection (Notification 1/2018, Consumer Protection Law 2014) also wants directions for use, storage, allergy warnings and side effects in Burmese on the consumer units of its priority products. Designing every mandatory line in Burmese, with English beside it, meets both.

Dates, codes and boxes

Paragraph 12: use-by or expiry date for safety, best before for quality; day and month when the food keeps three months or less, month and year when it keeps longer; DD/MM/YY or DD/MM/YYYY (a YYYY-MM-DD form is also allowed). A date printed elsewhere is pointed to, such as “expiry date at the bottom of the can”. Fresh produce, wine, spirits, vinegar, salt, sugar, sweets and chewing gum carry only a production or packing date.

The FDA’s food product notification (announcement of 9 May 2024, applied for online at fda.gov.mm) gives each prepacked food a food product code to print on its label, beside the import certificate (IR) number or the domestic production certificate serial where the product has one. Registration began with a voluntary education period; check the current deadline with the FDA.

Paragraph 24: until the FDA has screened the product, the words “Relevant department has not screened” stand in a rectangle in 2 mm bold type; a licence identification number goes in a 2 mm bold rectangle too. Food, dietary and herbal supplements and functional foods carry a 1 mm bold boxed notice in Burmese that the product is not tested for, and not meant to detect, cure or prevent disease.

Claims, pictures and imports

No cure claims, no “the best”, no “healthy” for clean production, no GMP, HACCP or ISO marks without the authority’s approval (paras. 15, 16, 22). “Natural”, “fresh”, “organic” and nutrient claims follow the Myanmar or Codex standard; halal and similar marks need the religious authority’s certificate (para. 17). Fruit, meat, fish or egg is pictured only when it is in the food, and a pictured ingredient shows its percentage (para. 18).

Nutrition information follows Codex CAC/GL 2-1985 when vitamins or minerals are added or a nutrient is reduced (para. 14 f). Packs whose largest surface is under 10 cm² may leave out the ingredients, lot, date and directions — spices and herbs excepted (para. 27).

FDA Directive 5/2026 of 12 March 2026 no longer lets importers add the mandatory information with stickers: the Burmese or other required text must be printed on the pack before it is imported. Plan the Myanmar version of an export pack in the artwork, not as a sub-label.

Laying it out in Drint

1. Drint has no Myanmar 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 Burmese text as it is — Drint does not translate. Text typed in Zawgyi is offered a one-click conversion to Unicode, so the press file is outlined right.
3. Set the body so that “ဝ” is at least 1 mm high — in Noto Sans Myanmar that is about 5 pt; measure it in the font you use — and make the headings larger.
4. Draw 2 mm boxes for the FDA notices and leave room for the food product code and IR number.
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. It reads FDA Directive 8/2022 in the unofficial English translation notified to the WTO; the Burmese original prevails. Before printing, check the current text, the food product code rules and any newer FDA directive with your client or a regulatory consultant in Myanmar.