PepsiCo India (Pepsi, Lay's, Kurkure, Sting): FSSAI record

PepsiCo India makes Pepsi, Mountain Dew, 7UP, Mirinda, Sting, Lay's, Kurkure, Doritos, Quaker and Tropicana. For 2024 to 2026 its record consists of claims notices, all of them in 2026, and no recall.

On 2 Jul 2026 FSSAI issued notices to six companies for describing products as 'energy drinks' when no such standard exists and for functional claims such as 'boosts energy'. Two PepsiCo products, Sting and Adrenaline Rush, were named. The next day FSSAI ordered the whole category to relabel as 'Caffeinated beverage' within 90 days. Maharashtra and Rajasthan then took their own steps on Sting, which are recorded on the Sting page. On 22 Aug 2026 FSSAI said it had issued more than 150 notices for misleading advertisements, false claims and labelling non-compliance, and named PepsiCo among the recipients without saying which product was involved.

The two long-running rumours have both been tested. The 'plastic in Kurkure' claim, based on videos of the snack burning, has circulated since 2013. In 2018 PepsiCo sued Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram; on 1 and 23 Jun 2018 the Delhi High Court ordered thousands of posts removed. PepsiCo's answer was that Kurkure, like any snack made from rice meal and similar dry ingredients, will burn. The 'pig fat' claim about the flavour enhancer E631 in Lay's dates from a 2015 chain message; PepsiCo says its Indian products are vegetarian and carry the green mark.

The pesticide episode of 2003 to 2006 is shared with Coca-Cola. Kerala's August 2006 ban was quashed by the Kerala High Court on 22 Sep 2006 in PepsiCo's own petition, and the Supreme Court in October 2013 declined to ban soft drinks. The December 2024 recall of Lay's Classic in two US states, later upgraded by the US FDA to Class I, concerned undeclared milk in bags sold in Oregon and Washington and had no Indian dimension.

PepsiCo India is not banned, not recalled and, apart from Sting's relabelling and state restrictions, not under any sale restriction as of 20 Sep 2026.