Printing date of manufacture, unit sale price on packaged items becomes mandatory from January 1

New Delhi: Printing the 'date of manufacturing' and 'unit sale price' has become mandatory on all packaged commodities effective from Monday, according to Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh.

Earlier, companies were given the option to either print the 'date of manufacturing' or 'date of import' or date of packaging on the packaged commodities.

Now, companies have been mandated to print only the 'date of manufacturing', along with the 'unit sale price', as per the latest notification issued by the Consumer Affairs Ministry.

"Since packaged items are sold in different quantities, it is important that consumers are aware about the 'unit sale price' of what is packed and make an informed purchase decision," the consumer affairs secretary told PTI.

Printing the date of manufacturing will help consumers know how old the packaged item is and help them make conscious purchase decisions.

Similarly, the printing of unit sale price will make it easy for consumers to ascertain the cost in unit terms. For example, a packaged wheat flour of 2.5 kg will have a unit sale price per kg, along with the Maximum Retail Price (MRP).

Similarly, a packaged commodity of less than one kg quantity will have a sale price per gram, along with the total MRP of the product.