Food Labelling Regs 2005: Sri Lanka nutrition label
Food Labelling Regs 2005, the Sri Lankan nutrition label under Food (Labelling and Advertising) Regulations 2005, 6 mandatory nutrients, per 100 g or 100 ml and per serving, both columns required, English on pack. Generate a compliant label free.
Reviewed against Food (Labelling and Advertising) Regulations 2005 · Page updated October 25, 2026
Nutrition labelling requirements in Sri Lanka
Packaged food sold in Sri Lanka must carry a nutrition declaration under Food (Labelling and Advertising) Regulations 2005. This page covers the Sri Lanka - Food Labelling Regs 2005 format: English mandatory + Sinhala/Tamil; MoH sugar colour-code required. A compliant Sri Lankan nutrition label declares 6 mandatory nutrients: energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate, sugars and sodium. Values are declared per 100 g or 100 ml and per serving, both columns required, with energy in kcal, and sodium rather than salt. The panel is headed "Nutrition Information / පෝෂණ තොරතුරු / ஊட்டச்சத்து தகவல்". English is required on pack. Front-of-pack warnings apply. The required scheme is colour coded sugar tick. NFL builds a print-ready Sri Lankan nutrition label from your recipe, applying the rounding rules and reference intakes for Sri Lanka automatically, and exports it as PDF, PNG, SVG, JPG or EPS.
Official regulation
Key facts
Front-of-pack scheme: how it works in Sri Lanka
Mandatory red/amber/green sugar-content indicator on solid and liquid foods per Gazette 1893/25 (2016). Red: >11 g/100g solids or >6 g/100mL liquids; amber: middle band; green: low.
Sri Lanka food labelling requirements: the 2026 regulations
Sri Lanka replaced its labelling rules in 2026. The Food (Labelling and Advertising) Regulations 2026, made under the Food Act No. 26 of 1980 and published in Gazette Extraordinary No. 2494/47, have been in force since 1 July 2026. They rescinded the 2005 and 2022 labelling regulations.
Packaged food must be labelled under the 2026 rules before it is imported, transported, stored, sold or advertised, which is mandatory. Key particulars include:
- the common name, in bold, in Sinhala, Tamil and English (two on the main panel and the third elsewhere is allowed);
- net contents, and the brand name where applicable;
- a full ingredient list in descending order of weight, with additives by name and INS number;
- manufacturer and distributor names and addresses, and for imports the importer and country of origin;
- batch or code number, date of manufacture and date of expiry (with set exemptions); and
- storage and use instructions in at least two of the three languages, and required warnings in all three.
Source: Food (Labelling and Advertising) Regulations 2026, Gazette Extraordinary No. 2494/47.
Nutrition labelling in Sri Lanka
Under Schedule II of the 2026 Regulations, a nutrient declaration is mandatory now for foods with nutrition or health claims, foods made for infants, young children and pregnant mothers, and foods for special dietary or medical purposes.
For most other foods, the requirement is transitional: it becomes mandatory one year after the Regulations were gazetted. Exemptions include certain unprocessed single-ingredient foods, packaged drinking water, spices, salt, sugar, some tea and coffee products, very small packs and cottage industry foods.
The declaration covers energy, protein, total sugars (natural and added), available carbohydrate, dietary fibre, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat and sodium, plus any nutrient named in a claim.
Source: Food (Labelling and Advertising) Regulations 2026, Schedule II.
Colour coding for sugar, salt and fat
Sri Lanka runs a mandatory traffic light colour code alongside the labelling rules. For solid and semi-solid foods, the Food (Colour Coding for Sugar, Salt and Fat) Regulations 2019 require green, amber or red logos for sugar, salt and fat at the levels in their schedule, including on imported foods.
For drinks, the Food (Colour Coding for sugar levels-liquid) Regulations 2022 require a sugar logo on ready-to-drink products and products that become liquid when prepared. Red applies above 8.0 g total sugar per 100 ml, amber from 2.5 g to 8.0 g, and green below 2.5 g.
The logo goes on the main panel with "sugar" written in Sinhala, Tamil and English. Foods with less than 0.5 g sugar per 100 ml, packaged drinking water and certain milk products are among the exemptions.
Source: Food (Colour Coding for Sugar, Salt and Fat) Regulations 2019, and Food (Colour Coding for sugar levels-liquid) Regulations 2022.
Imported foods and who regulates labelling
Imported packaged food may use a supplementary label to add the required information. If the original label has one of the three languages, the supplementary label can add the other two, but it must not cover or alter the original dates or other mandatory details.
If the manufacturer uses coded dates, the importer may add the actual dates on a supplementary label, keeping documents that explain the code. Supplementary labels may also carry the colour-coded sugar logo for imported drinks.
Food control is run by the Ministry of Health, with the Director General of Health Services as the Chief Food Authority. The Food Control Administration Unit coordinates regulatory work, including import control.
Source: Food (Labelling and Advertising) Regulations 2026, Regulations 4 and 5.
Sources
Primary documents this page was written from, checked 2026-10-04.
How NFL handles it
- Applies the correct rounding rules for every nutrient
- Uses the right Daily Value / Reference Intake table for this jurisdiction
- Renders the required front-of-pack warnings automatically when thresholds are hit
- Handles multilingual labels where required (bilingual EN/FR, EN/ES, Arabic + EN, etc.)
- Exports print-ready vector PDF, PNG, SVG, JPG, and EPS
Common questions
Related formats
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How to generate one
- Open the generator: free account, no credit card
- Pick "Sri Lanka - Food Labelling Regs 2005" from the format rail
- Enter your ingredients (search USDA FoodData Central or add a custom ingredient)
- The label renders live; export in one click