FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India)

Before 2006, many separate laws and orders governed food. Different ministries enforced them. A trader could follow one rule and break another without knowing. One Act replaced them, so that one standard applies everywhere.

What does the Act do?

• The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 received the President’s assent on 23 August 2006.
• It is described as an Act to consolidate the laws relating to food.
• It also created the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, called FSSAI, to lay down science-based standards.

Which older laws did it replace?

• The Second Schedule lists the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 first.
• It also lists the Fruit Products Order 1955, the Meat Food Products Order 1973 and the Milk and Milk Products Order 1992.
• Other items are the Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order 1947, the Edible Oils Packaging Order 1998 and the Solvent Extracted Oil Order 1967.
• The last entry covers any other food order under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.

What is the difference between the Act and FSSAI?

• The Act is the law. It was passed in 2006.
• FSSAI is the body the Act created. It started work later.
• Think of the Act as the rulebook and FSSAI as the referee.
• A common mistake is to say “FSSAI was passed in 2006”. The Act was passed. The Authority was set up by a notification.

When did FSSAI start work?

• FSSAI’s own disclosure records its establishment by notification S.O. 2165(E) on 5 September 2008.
• The Food Safety and Standards Rules were notified on 5 May 2011.
• The principal Regulations followed on 5 August 2011.
• The administrative ministry is the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Why does the ministry matter?

• Food touches agriculture, commerce and consumer affairs. Students often guess one of those ministries.
• The disclosure names health, because the aim is safe food for people.
• Remember it as “safe food is a health matter”.

The Act itself fixes the shape of the Authority. Knowing the shape helps you answer “who sits on it” questions.

What kind of body is it?

• Section 4 makes it a body corporate with perpetual succession and a seal.
• It can sue and be sued in its own name.
• Its head office is at Delhi. It may open offices anywhere else in India.
• Because it is a body corporate, it can own property and make contracts. It is a legal person, not just a committee.
• Exam tip: learn the head office from the Act. Do not rely on a count of regional offices, because offices can be added under section 4(4).

Who sits on it?

• Section 5 gives a Chairperson plus 22 members. One-third of them must be women.
• Seven members are ex officio. They are not below the rank of Joint Secretary and come from seven ministries.
• Those ministries deal with agriculture, commerce, consumer affairs, food processing, health, legislative affairs and small scale industries.
• The Chairperson is an eminent food scientist or a senior administrator. The rank must be not below Secretary to the Government of India.

Why do seven ministries have a seat?

• Food safety cuts across many departments. A rule on pesticide residues touches agriculture, and a rule on labels touches consumer affairs.
• Having all seven at the table lets the Authority hear each view before it decides.
• Example: a new limit on a food additive affects farmers, factories and shoppers at once. The members from different fields can raise each concern.

Who runs it day to day?

• Section 9 provides a Chief Executive Officer, not below the rank of Additional Secretary.
• The CEO is the Member-Secretary of the Authority.

The law gives FSSAI one main duty and a list of powers. The duty is the “what”. The powers are the “how”.

What is its duty?

• Section 16(1) says it must regulate and monitor the manufacture, processing, distribution, sale and import of food.
• The aim is safe and wholesome food.

What can it set by regulation?

• Standards and guidelines for articles of food.
• Limits for additives, pesticide residues, heavy metals and similar substances.
• Rules for accrediting certification bodies and laboratories.
• Rules for imported food.
• Food labelling standards, including health and nutrition claims.

How does a standard reach the shop?

• Step one: the Authority makes a regulation, such as a limit for an additive.
• Step two: businesses must follow it. Laboratories test samples against it.
• Step three: the label must tell buyers what is inside.
• Example: if a regulation fixes a limit for a pesticide residue, a laboratory result above that limit shows a breach.

Does it advise the government?

• Yes. Section 16(3) tells it to give scientific advice and technical support to the Centre and the States.
• The advice covers policy and rules that touch food safety and nutrition.

The rule is simple. A food business needs a licence. A very small one only registers. The reason is fairness: a tea stall cannot carry the cost of a factory licence, yet its food must still be safe.

What does the Act say?

• Section 31(1) says no one may start or run a food business except under a licence.
• Section 31(2) exempts petty manufacturers, petty retailers, hawkers, itinerant vendors and temporary stall holders.
• They must still register.

What changed in 2026?

• An FSSAI order of 13 March 2026 revises the turnover thresholds from 1 April 2026.
• Turnover up to ₹1.5 crore needs registration.
• Above ₹1.5 crore and up to ₹50 crore needs a State licence.
• Above ₹50 crore needs a Central licence.
• Earlier, the Licensing Regulations placed small businesses with turnover not above ₹12 lakh in the registration group.

Worked example: which tier?

This example is only an illustration of how the thresholds work on turnover alone.

• A roadside juice stall with yearly turnover of ₹80 lakh is below ₹1.5 crore. It registers.
• A bakery with turnover of ₹4 crore is above ₹1.5 crore and below ₹50 crore. It needs a State licence.
• A large packaged-food maker with turnover of ₹120 crore is above ₹50 crore. It needs a Central licence.

What is the common mistake?

• Many students think registration is a “weaker licence”. It is a separate category for very small businesses.
• Another mistake is to remember the old ₹12 lakh limit. From 1 April 2026 the registration ceiling is ₹1.5 crore.

Rules need laboratories. A reply in the Lok Sabha on 31 July 2026 gave the current numbers. Learn what each number counts, because exam options often swap them.

What is in place?

• FSSAI has notified 259 NABL-accredited laboratories for analysing food samples.
• It has also notified 24 Referral Food Laboratories. These handle samples in appeal cases.
• Under SoFTeL, 47 State Food Testing Laboratories have been upgraded.
• 34 microbiology laboratories were set up separately.

What about mobile testing?

• 305 Food Safety on Wheels vans are deployed across 35 States and Union Territories.
• They reach villages and remote areas where fixed laboratories are far away.
• The Magic Box kit detects common adulterants in 7 food commodities.
• The DART book describes 44 tests that anyone can do at home.
• 88 RAFT kits have been approved so far. These are portable field-testing devices.

What does each number count?

• 259 counts NABL-accredited laboratories that FSSAI has notified. NABL is the body that accredits testing laboratories.
• 24 counts Referral Food Laboratories. These laboratories handle samples in appeal cases.
• 47 counts State laboratories upgraded under SoFTeL.
• 34 counts microbiology laboratories set up separately.
• 305 counts vans, not fixed laboratories.

Why vans?

• A fixed laboratory may be hundreds of kilometres from a village market.
• A van brings testing, training and awareness to the village itself.
• Example: the Magic Box kit lets a family test common adulterants in seven food commodities without a laboratory.

Punishment grows with the harm done. The Act does not treat a stomach upset and a death in the same way.

What are the penalties in section 59?

• No injury: up to six months in prison and a fine up to ₹1 lakh.
• Non-grievous injury: up to one year and a fine up to ₹3 lakh.
• Grievous injury: up to six years and a fine up to ₹5 lakh.
• Death: at least seven years, which may extend to life, and a fine of at least ₹10 lakh.

How do you remember the four levels?

• Use the pattern 6 months, 1 year, 6 years, 7 years to life. The fines rise from ₹1 lakh to ₹3 lakh to ₹5 lakh to ₹10 lakh.
• Only the top level has a minimum: at least seven years and at least ₹10 lakh. The others give a maximum.
• Common mistake: students read the ₹10 lakh as a maximum. It is a floor.

Where does an appeal go?

• Section 70 lets the Centre or a State set up a Food Safety Appellate Tribunal.
• It hears appeals from decisions of the Adjudicating Officer.

The Civil Services Prelims 2016 asked about the label of a pre-packaged item. It is a good example of a “which is NOT required” trap.

What was the question?

• CSP 2016 GS Paper I, Question 34, asked what a manufacturer must put on the main label under the Packaging and Labelling Regulations, 2011.
• The statements were the list of ingredients including additives, nutrition information, medical recommendations about allergic reactions, and a vegetarian or non-vegetarian mark.

What does the official key say?

• The key for Series A gives C, which is statements 1, 2 and 4.
• Regulation 2.2.2 requires the ingredient list, nutritional information and the veg or non-veg declaration.
• Regulation 2.4.6 says a label must not carry words implying a recommendation by the medical profession.
• So statement 3 is not a required item.

How do you solve it?

• Check each statement against the rule. Statement 1 is required. Statement 2 is required. Statement 4 is required.
• Statement 3 sounds helpful, but the label may not imply medical approval.
• So only 1, 2 and 4 remain. That is option C.

Exam writers swap names, offices and numbers. Watch these.

What is easy to confuse?

• FSSAI is under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, not Consumer Affairs or Agriculture.
• Its head office is at Delhi, by section 4(3).
• The Right to Information Act, 2005 is not one of the laws the Food Act replaced.
• The turnover limit for registration is now ₹1.5 crore, not the old ₹12 lakh.

What are the common misconceptions?

• “FSSAI is a ministry.” It is a statutory authority under the Health Ministry.
• “The old food laws still run beside it.” The Second Schedule shows they were replaced.
• “More vans means more laboratories.” Vans are a separate count from the 47 State laboratories.
• “A fine of ₹10 lakh is the top.” In a death case it is the lowest fine.

What should you remember?

• Act in 2006. Authority notified in 2008. Rules and Regulations in 2011.
• Penalty for death: at least seven years and ₹10 lakh.