The Maldives Food and Drug Authority (MFDA) has announced a six-month deadline for businesses to fully comply with the new Food Packaging and Labeling Regulation. The regulation, officially gazetted last Tuesday, requires all packaged food products to meet the updated labeling standards within this transition period. The MFDA emphasized that failure to comply could result in severe penalties.

In a statement on Sunday, the authority urged both businesses and consumers to pay close attention to the new labeling rules and ensure all products are updated before the deadline.

According to the regulation, mislabeling food items—whether domestically produced, imported, or exported—can lead to fines of up to MVR 1 million. For more than five repeat offenses, the MFDA may also revoke the relevant licenses or registrations, in addition to the maximum monetary penalty.

The regulation also bans the sale of any food items that are unlabelled or inaccurately labeled.