Private label from India on a first order

A first private-label order from India usually goes wrong in one of three places: the print minimum turns out to be bigger than a year's sales, the artwork is not legal in the destination market, or nobody decided whose name goes on the pack as the responsible food business operator. None of those get fixed at the port. They get fixed before the quotation.

Three ways to pack, and only one of them is private label

Bulk. 25 kg woven PP bags with a food-grade inner liner, or multiwall paper sacks and fibre drums for fine powders. Markings are shipping marks: product, lot, net and gross weight, origin, your purchase order. Lowest cost per kilo, shortest lead time, no artwork cycle.

Neutral or semi-branded bulk. The same industrial sizes, but in cartons or bags printed with your name and a catering-size declaration. Useful if you are selling to caterers, repackers or manufacturers rather than to shelf.

Retail own-label. Printed laminate pouches, doypacks, jars or shakers carrying your artwork and your barcode. This is the only one of the three that is actually private label, and it is where both the cost and the legal exposure sit.

Our minimum is 1,000 kg per product and mixed containers are accepted, so a first container can carry all three at once. That is usually the sensible shape of a first order.

Private label from India moves the label liability onto you

Under Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, the food business operator responsible for the food information is the operator under whose name or business name the food is marketed, or, if that operator is not established in the Union, the importer into the Union market. Put your brand on the pouch and that operator is you. Nothing in a supplier's certificate of analysis changes it.

That is not a reason to avoid own-label. It is a reason to budget for a compliance review of the artwork by someone in the destination market who does this for a living. What we can give you is the factual input that review needs: ingredient breakdown, origin, lot data and the test results that ship with the documents. See how we test and what the certificates cover.

What usually fails on the artwork

Article 9(1) of 1169/2011 sets the mandatory particulars for prepacked food: the name of the food, the ingredients list, allergens, quantitative ingredient declarations, net quantity, the date of minimum durability or use-by date, storage and use conditions, the name and address of the food business operator, origin where required, instructions for use where needed, and the nutrition declaration.

Then there is legibility, which is where small spice packs trip up. Mandatory particulars must be printed with an x-height of at least 1.2 mm. Where the largest surface of the pack is under 80 cm², that drops to at least 0.9 mm. Where the largest surface is under 10 cm², only four particulars are required on the pack itself — the name of the food, allergens, net quantity and the date. A 15 g sachet and a 50 g jar are not the same labelling problem, and the artwork for one does not scale to the other.

Two more things buyers routinely leave until too late. A quantitative ingredient declaration is triggered when an ingredient is named or pictured on the front — relevant if you are selling blended masalas with a garlic or cardamom claim on the face. And the date of minimum durability is yours to set and to justify; the exporter supplies the goods and the lot date, not your shelf-life policy.

The UK and the EU are not interchangeable on addresses

The Food Standards Agency requires a business name and address on prepacked food: either the business whose name the food is marketed under, or the address of the business that imported it. For food sold in Northern Ireland that address must be in NI or the EU. For Great Britain it must be a UK address, a change that took effect on 1 October 2022. One artwork for GB, the EU and NI is usually a false economy — check before you commit to a single print run.

The packaging itself is now regulated, not just the print

Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste has been repealed and replaced by Regulation (EU) 2025/40, which entered into force on 11 February 2025 and applies from 12 August 2026. Any laminate structure, jar closure or shrink film you sign off now sits under that regime, and the importer placing packed goods on the market is the one it lands on. Get your own compliance view on pack construction before cylinders are cut, not after.

The quantity at which own-label starts to make sense

Do the arithmetic in packs, not kilos. Our 1,000 kg minimum on turmeric powder is 5,000 retail units at 200 g, or 10,000 at 100 g. That is the floor from the product side.

The film is the real constraint. Printed laminate is made in running lengths and charged with a cylinder or plate set per design, so the packer's minimum print run, converted into packs, is often larger than 1,000 kg of product. We do not own the packing line, so that minimum is set by the converter, not by us. Ask for it in running metres and in packs before you choose a pack size — if it comes back at three times your annual sale, you have a pricing problem disguised as a packaging decision.

A workable sequence: buy bulk first, confirm the specification and the sell-through, then convert the one or two SKUs that have a committed repeat to own-label. Browse the full range at products.

Lead time: artwork is the long pole

Ocean transit is the predictable part. The unpredictable part is proof, compliance sign-off, cylinder making, a test print and first production. Every round of amendment on the artwork adds time that has nothing to do with the goods. Build it into your launch date, and see how the process runs from quotation to delivery.

A practical note: if this is your first container, split it. Bulk for the lines you are confident in, one own-label SKU as a trial. You will learn more from one printed pouch going through your own compliance process than from any specification sheet.

Sources

• Article 8(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011: the responsible food business operator is the operator under whose name or business name the food is marketed, or, if not established in the Union, the importer into the Union market. — eur-lex.europa.eu
• Article 9(1) list of mandatory particulars for prepacked food (name, ingredients, allergens, QUID, net quantity, date, storage conditions, FBO name and address, origin, instructions, nutrition declaration). — eur-lex.europa.eu
• Article 13(2) x-height of at least 1,2 mm; Article 13(3) at least 0,9 mm where the largest surface is under 80 cm2; Article 16(2) only points (a), (c), (e) and (f) of Article 9(1) required where the largest surface is under 10 cm2. — eur-lex.europa.eu
• Directive 94/62/EC is repealed and replaced by Regulation (EU) 2025/40 as of 12 August 2026. — eur-lex.europa.eu
• Commission guidance notice confirming Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR) entered into force on 11 February 2025 and applies from 12 August 2026. — eur-lex.europa.eu
• FSA guidance that prepacked food must carry a business name and address — the business the food is marketed under, or the importer's address — and that food sold in Northern Ireland must carry an NI or EU address. — food.gov.uk
• From 1 October 2022 labels on food sold in Great Britain must carry a UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man address, or the UK importer's address. — apps.fas.usda.gov