India seizes thousands of Diageo whisky, vodka bottles in food safety crackdown

NEW DELHI: Indian inspectors have seized around 18,000 boxes of Diageo liquor bottles for allegedly lacking markings to show they were made using safe recycled plastic, government sources said, in the latest blow to the world’s largest spirits group.

Diageo India confirmed the regulatory action, saying some of its bottles “have been quarantined by authorities until further direction”. It said they were sourced from a recycler approved by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and mandatory tests were conducted by the suppliers.

“Our products are completely safe for consumption … We are engaging with FSSAI for further direction on this matter,” Diageo India unit United Spirits told Reuters in a statement.

FSSAI officials visited United Spirits’ factory in Bengaluru last week where they were told that the Diageo India unit used recycled plastic bottles. But they found required markings were missing, a government memo said.

“This raised serious food safety, misleading and misbranding compliance concerns regarding the safety of finished alcoholic beverages for consumers,” the memo said. The seizure was in the interests of public health, the document added.

The FSSAI did not respond to queries about the seizure of thousands of Diageo bottles, which Reuters is reporting for the first time.

The food standards regulator is taking an increasingly hard line against liquor firms, energy drink ​makers including PepsiCo PEP.O and food manufacturers over labelling and compliance.

========= Some smirnoff, whisky bottles checked

During their checks, inspectors found Diageo’s bottles only had markings showing they were made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), but should have carried a government-mandated recycled PET symbol that also indicates they are food-grade, a second government memo said.

While most large bottles of Diageo drinks are made of glass, the action focused on plastic bottles used to retail the product in smaller quantities of typically 180 millilitres.

Products worth some $1.6 million as well as plastic material were seized during the inspection in the southern city, which impacted more than half a dozen brands, including DSP Black Deluxe Whisky, Smirnoff Zesty Lime Triple Distilled Flavoured Vodka and VAT 69 blended scotch whisky, the memos showed.

Diageo, which has dubbed India its “consumer market of the decade”, has said it complies with the law.

Diageo recorded revenue of $3 billion in India in the year to March 2026, making it one of the two dominant foreign players in the market alongside France’s Pernod Ricard.

The FSSAI move comes days after it barred two of Diageo’s popular whisky brands, alleging misleading declarations about the maturity of the liquor and the use of artificial flavouring.

The flavouring crackdown, which also includes some Indian companies, has jolted India’s $40 billion alcohol industry as it concerns some popular Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), which is locally produced spirits modelled on international brands.

The FSSAI has also warned Diageo that it misleadingly claimed one of its top-selling whiskies was “matured in American oak casks”, when most of the product had not been matured, Reuters reported on Saturday.