Fact-check
Is Parle-G banned in India?
Last checked 20 September 2026. A few details are still being checked against the original document.
Parle-G is not banned in India as of 20 Sep 2026; no FSSAI order, recall or notice names it, and the only recall found is a February 2025 withdrawal by a Japanese importer over TBHQ, an antioxidant India permits.
- Classification
- No ban or recall found in official records
- Decided by
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)
- Reference
- No order on record (FSSAI press, claims-notice lists and recall checks, 20 Sep 2026)
- Latest action
- 26 May 2025
- Last checked
- 20 September 2026details being verified
Parle-G biscuit packs on an Indian shop shelf. Photo: Parle-G.jpg by travelwayoflife (CC BY-SA 2.0). Brand names and logos belong to their owners and are used here to identify the product this entry is about. All photo credits.
Notice of apology and product recall: Parle biscuits
We have not yet found this action in a published government document. Treat it as reported, not confirmed. If you have the order, send it to us.
Scope. A record here does not by itself mean a product or company is unsafe or banned today. Regulatory actions can apply to one batch, one formulation, one period or one state. Always check the linked government document for the current position, and tell us if something is out of date. How we label records.
Below: Blacklisted's explanationWe explain what has been reported. The report above is the best source we hold.
Key facts
- Current status
- On sale nationwide; no order in force
- Japan recall (Feb 2025)
- Importer Ambika Corporation withdrew nine Parle biscuit lines, including Gluco biscuits, because they contain TBHQ, not a designated additive in Japan; Parle-G itself not listed by name (being verified)
- TBHQ in India
- Permitted antioxidant for fats and oils within FSSAI limits
- 'Unhealthy' posts (May 2025)
- Fact Crescendo rated them 'missing context': sugar in line with other glucose biscuits; no additive or contamination finding
- Recalls in India 2024 to 2026
- None (FoSCoS brand-level check:, being verified
Where the claim comes from
Parle-G rumours are about health and, occasionally, about a foreign recall. Posts calling the biscuit 'poison' or 'slow poison' for its sugar and refined flour circulate every few months; Fact Crescendo checked one wave in May 2025. Screenshots of the February 2025 Japanese recall notice, which lists Parle Gluco biscuits, are shared as if Japan or India had banned Parle-G. And in October 2021 a rumour in Bihar that children must eat Parle-G during the Jitiya festival emptied shop shelves in five districts.
Parle-G has never been banned in India and is not under any FSSAI order today. Nothing in FSSAI's 2026 claims notices, in publicly reported recalls or in press coverage names Parle-G or Parle Products.
The nearest thing to a real event happened in Japan. On 28 Feb 2025 Ambika Corporation, an importer of Indian groceries in Tokyo, published a recall of nine Parle biscuit lines, including several Hide & Seek flavours, Cream Bourbon and Gluco biscuits. The reason was TBHQ, tertiary butylhydroquinone, an antioxidant added to fats to slow rancidity. TBHQ is permitted within limits in India and in Europe but is not on Japan's list of designated additives, so the packs could not legally be sold there. The importer offered refunds. No Indian authority was involved and nothing about the biscuits sold in India changed.
Viral posts about Parle-G in India tend to be about nutrition rather than law. In May 2025 Fact Crescendo looked at posts calling the biscuit unhealthy and rated them 'missing context': the sugar content is in line with other glucose biscuits and there is no additive or contamination finding behind the claim. In October 2021 a different kind of rumour, that boys who did not eat Parle-G during the Jitiya festival would come to harm, caused panic buying in Bihar's Sitamarhi district and four neighbours, with packets resold at ten times their price.
Parle-G is not banned, not recalled and not under notice in India as of 20 Sep 2026.
What this means for you
Buy and eat as usual
There is no regulatory restriction on Parle-G in India. Whether a glucose biscuit is a good daily snack is a nutrition question, not a legal one.
The Japan recall is a paperwork difference
Japan keeps a list of permitted additives and TBHQ is not on it. India and Europe permit it within limits. Nothing was found wrong with the biscuits beyond that.
This is a record of official orders, not medical advice. Do not stop a prescribed medicine without asking your doctor or pharmacist.
Common questions
Was Parle-G banned in Japan?
A Japanese importer withdrew Parle biscuits in February 2025 because they contain TBHQ, which Japan does not list as a permitted additive. That is a recall by one importer, not a national ban, and it has no effect in India.
Official sources and primary records
- Notice of apology and product recall: Parle biscuitsNewsAmbika Corporation (Japan) · 28 February 2025
- Are Parle G biscuits unhealthy to consumers?NewsFact Crescendo · 26 May 2025
- Strange rumour increases sales of Parle-G biscuit in BiharNewsIndia.com · 1 October 2021