Before 2006, India regulated food safety through at least seven separate, overlapping laws. FSSAI replaced all of them with one science-based standard. It now touches nearly every food product sold in the country.
Timeline
- 23 August 2006: The Food Safety and Standards Act receives Presidential assent, creating FSSAI in law.
- 5 September 2008: FSSAI is formally established as a statutory body.
- 2011: FSSAI becomes fully operational, after its Rules and key Regulations are notified.
- 1 September 2025: Rajit Punhani takes charge as FSSAI’s Chief Executive Officer.
- 10 March 2026: FSSAI notifies the Licensing and Registration Amendment Regulations, 2026, raising registration thresholds.
- 1 April 2026: The new, higher thresholds take effect.
✊ Must Know
1. Founding law and ministry
- Founding Act FSSAI was established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. It received Presidential assent on 23 August 2006.
- Ministry Its administrative ministry is the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
- Consolidation The 2006 Act consolidated seven earlier food-related laws into one framework. These included the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954, and the Milk and Milk Products Order, 1992.
- Not DGHS-Run FSSAI is an autonomous body, not under the charge of the Director General of Health Services. A UPSC question testing exactly this claim marked it false.
2. Structure and offices
- Head Office FSSAI’s head office is in Delhi. It has six regional offices: Delhi, Guwahati, Mumbai, Kolkata, Cochin, and Chennai.
- Leadership It is headed by a non-executive Chairperson, ranked as Secretary to the Government of India. 22 members support the Chairperson, and at least one-third must be women.
3. Packaging and Labelling Regulations, 2011 — the UPSC-tested fact
- PYQ 2016 UPSC CSP 2016 (GS Paper I, Q34) asked what a manufacturer must put on the main label of a pre-packaged item.
- Mandatory The Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011 make three things mandatory on the main label: the ingredient list (including additives), nutrition information, and a veg/non-veg mark.
- Not Mandatory A claim about medical-profession recommendations is not required. The regulations actually ban any label that claims to be “recommended by the medical profession.”
📖 Good to Know
1. Core functions
- Standards FSSAI’s core job is laying down science-based standards for food articles. It also regulates their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale, and import.
- Accreditation The Authority also handles accreditation, for both certification bodies working in food safety, and laboratories that test food samples.
- Advisory Role FSSAI gives scientific advice and technical support to both central and state governments, on food safety and nutrition matters.
2. Current leadership
- CEO The current CEO, Rajit Punhani, is a 1991-batch IAS officer. He previously served as Secretary of the Rajya Sabha and CEO of Sansad TV.
- Chairperson The current Chairperson is Punya Salila Srivastava.
📰 Current Affairs
1. Food testing system strengthened (31 July 2026)
- 31 Jul 2026 The Government detailed measures to strengthen India’s food testing system, in a Lok Sabha written reply.
- Labs FSSAI has notified 259 NABL-accredited laboratories for food-sample analysis, plus 24 Referral Food Laboratories for appeal samples.
- SoFTeL Under the SoFTeL scheme, 47 State Food Testing Laboratories have been upgraded with advanced equipment. 34 specialised microbiology laboratories now detect chemical, heavy-metal, and biological contaminants.
- Outreach “Food Safety on Wheels” mobile vans give the widest outreach for testing and awareness, especially in villages and remote areas. 305 vans are currently deployed across 35 States/UTs.
- Simple Tools The “Magic Box” kit detects adulterants in 7 food commodities. The DART book covers 44 household-level tests. 88 portable RAFT testing kits have been approved so far. (Source: PIB)
2. Basic Registration ceiling raised (10 March 2026)
- Notified FSSAI notified the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Amendment Regulations, 2026.
- New Ceiling The amendment raises the Basic Registration turnover ceiling from ₹12 lakh to ₹1.5 crore, effective 1 April 2026.
- Who Benefits This lets far more street vendors, home-based food businesses, and small eateries use the simpler, cheaper Basic Registration process. They no longer need a full State Licence.
- Street Vendors Act Link Vendors already registered under the Street Vendors Act, 2014 are now automatically deemed registered under food safety law too.
Test Yourself
🏆 Great to Know
1. “One nation, one food law”
- Consolidation FSSAI is often described as a case of “one nation, one food law.” It replaced a patchwork of laws that different ministries had enforced separately for decades.
- Wide Reach FSSAI sits at the intersection of health, agriculture, and commerce. Its regulations affect nearly every stage of the food supply chain, from farms to restaurants to imported packaged goods.
2. Easing compliance without dropping oversight
- 2026 Reform The 2026 registration reform reflects a broader theme in Indian governance: easing compliance burdens for small businesses, without giving up food safety oversight itself.
Previous Year Questions
UPSC CSP 2016, GS Paper I, Q34: “With reference to pre-packaged items in India, it is mandatory to the manufacturer to put which of the following information on the main label, as per the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011? 1. List of ingredients including additives 2. Nutrition information 3. Recommendations, if any, made by the medical profession about the possibility of any allergic reactions 4. Vegetarian/non-vegetarian.” The mandatory items are the ingredient list, nutrition information, and the veg/non-veg mark — statements 1, 2 and 4. A medical-profession recommendation claim is not required, and is in fact banned on food labels. So the correct answer is 1, 2 and 4 only. Full question and answer: UPSC CSP 2016 — General Studies Paper I, Q34.
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