How to Read a Herbal Product Label in Pakistan and India: DRAP, AYUSH

Turn the packet over. Most people never do. That one habit would prevent more harm than any herb inside. This is how to read a herbal product label in Pakistan or India, line by line: the ingredient order, what “proprietary” hides, the batch and expiry, the address, the DRAP or AYUSH marks, and the gaps that tell you a product is not what it claims.

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How to read a herbal product label: start with the ingredients

Ingredients are conventionally listed in descending order of amount, so the first name is the biggest share of the product and the last is a trace. Read the first three. In a cough syrup those might be sugar, honey and mulethi: you are mostly buying sugar. In a joint powder they might be harar, sonth and methi, a recognisable recipe any hakeem could explain. If the first ingredient is a name you cannot find in any book or search, or the list is a single phrase, stop there. Done.

Good labels give amounts, either as a percentage or as grams per dose (for instance, “each 5 ml contains: Unnab 50 mg, Mulethi 40 mg”). A label with amounts lets you compare two products honestly. A label without amounts lets the maker put in as little of the expensive herb as they like. Traditional names should be paired with a botanical or at least a common name: Gilo (Tinospora cordifolia), Asgand (Withania somnifera). That pairing is a mark of a manufacturer who expects to be checked.

Classical formula or proprietary?

There are two kinds of product on the shelf. A classical formula (Jawarish Kamuni, Majoon Dabeed-ul-Ward, Itrifal Zamani, Triphala Churna, Chyawanprash) is a named recipe from a recognised formulary, and its ingredients and proportions are public. Two makers’ Jawarish Kamuni should be broadly the same thing, and a label that lists a different set of herbs under a classical name is a warning in itself. A “proprietary” product is the maker’s own blend under a brand name. That is legitimate, but it means only the label tells you what is inside, so the label must be complete. “Proprietary” is a reason to read harder, not a reason to trust more.

Batch, dates and the address

The batch (or lot) number is the label’s fingerprint. It links your packet to a production record and it is what a regulator quotes in a recall, which is exactly why a careless or dishonest manufacturer leaves it off. No batch, no record. No recall. Next to it should be a manufacturing date and an expiry date, both printed, not handwritten, and not a sticker over another date. Herbal powders generally carry 2 to 3 years of shelf life; syrups and majoon about the same; for a powder, syrup or majoon anything claiming 5 years or more deserves a question (a few fermented Ayurvedic asava and arishta preparations legitimately keep far longer), and anything with no expiry at all is not a finished product, it is a bag of something.

The manufacturer’s name must come with a street address, not only a city and a phone number. “Marketed by” is fine as an extra line, not as a replacement. A website or WhatsApp number with no premises is exactly how an untraceable product stays untraceable.

The DRAP and AYUSH marks

Pakistan

Since the alternative medicines and health products rules came in, herbal, Unani, Ayurvedic, homeopathic and nutraceutical products in Pakistan are meant to be enlisted with the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan and to print that enlistment number on the pack, usually as “DRAP Enlistment No.” or “Enl. No.” followed by a number, sometimes with the product category noted as alternative medicine. Enlistment is checked on DRAP’s own website, where lists of enlisted alternative medicines and health products are published; search the product or company name there rather than trusting a screenshot from the seller, and see how to check a DRAP enlistment for the step-by-step. Two honest limits. First, enlistment confirms that a licensed manufacturer registered the product with a reviewed label; it does not mean the formula was tested for effect, and it does not mean the batch in your hand was tested for lead, mercury or an undeclared drug. Second, many products on sale carry no number at all, and some print a number that matches nothing, so a failed match is itself information. DRAP also publishes alerts about products found to contain undeclared drugs or metals, and a search of the product name there takes a minute.

India

Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani medicines in India are licensed by the state licensing authority under the Ministry of AYUSH, and the pack should show a manufacturing licence number (often “Mfg. Lic. No.” or “AYUSH Lic. No.”), the state, and whether the product is a classical formulation or an “Ayurvedic proprietary medicine”. Heavy-metal statements are required on Ayurvedic products containing metals for export and increasingly for domestic sale; a bhasma without any such statement has not been labelled as the rules expect. Products sold as food supplements rather than medicines carry an FSSAI licence number instead, which tells you they were regulated as food and were never assessed as medicine at all.

A two-minute check at the counter

1. Turn the pack over and count the required items: ingredient list, batch number, two dates, address, net weight (grams or ml), enlistment or licence number. Six items. Fewer than five? Back on the shelf.
2. Read the first three ingredients aloud. If the first is sugar, decide whether you are buying a tonic or a sweet. If any is a word you cannot identify, ask the shopkeeper to; if he cannot either, put it back.
3. Look for amounts. “Each 10 g contains” or a percentage next to each herb is good practice. None at all is a weak label.
4. Check the expiry is at least 6 months away and printed by machine. Check the seal is intact and the powder is not caked, which suggests damp or age.
5. Photograph the enlistment or licence number and search it, along with the product name, on the regulator’s site before you open the pack. Two minutes. Once.
6. Match the claim to the category. A product that promises to cure diabetes, remove fat, whiten skin or restore “mardana taqat” is making medicine claims that no herbal enlistment permits; treat the claim as the first sign of a product that may contain something undeclared.

What is missing when a product is not what it claims

Usually several things at once. The ingredient list is a phrase. There is no batch number, or the batch and expiry sit on a sticker, the address is a city, the registration line is absent or reads “government approved” without a number or borrows a number from a different product entirely, the claims run to cures, and the spelling changes between front and back. None of these alone proves fraud; a small honest manufacturer can have a poor printer. Three of them together are enough to walk away, because the products that have tested positive for steroids, sibutramine, sildenafil, mercury and lead share exactly this profile (the fairness cream article shows the same profile on a tube). The slimming powder article and the heavy metals explainer in this series show what has been found behind that kind of packaging.

A short list of claims that should end the conversation: “no side effects”, “100% safe”, “cures”, “permanent”, “guaranteed”, “lose 10 kg in a month”, “doctor-free”. A herb that does anything at all can also do harm, and a manufacturer who knows their product says so.

Reading the label of things sold as food

Many herbal products dodge medicine rules by calling themselves tea, jam, kehwa or “food supplement”. Read those labels as you would a biscuit packet: sugar per serving, sodium, serving size, and whether the first ingredient is the herb or the sweetener. Look too for the small line many enlisted health products carry, worded like “not for medicinal use” or “not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease”. It is honest: you are holding a food or supplement, never assessed as a medicine. A pack with that line on the back and “cures diabetes” on the front has contradicted itself. The snack label guide covers the arithmetic, and it applies unchanged to a jar of majoon or a sachet of “detox” tea. Every product covered in Unani & Herbal, Decoded is judged this way, by what its label admits.