India Food Safety Standards Act Coverage

India's Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 is the main food law for the whole of India ^[1]. It does four main things. It sets up the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). It sets the safety and labelling rules that food must meet. It places duties on food businesses through licensing, recall and liability rules. And it sets the penalties and prosecutions for breaking those rules. It replaced the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 and the older food orders.

What it covers

• Scope. The FSSAI's core duty is to "regulate and monitor the manufacture, processing, distribution, sale and import of food so as to ensure safe and wholesome food" ^[2]. The Act does not apply to farmers or fishermen, or to crops, livestock or aquaculture at farm level ^[3].

• Institutions. The FSSAI is a body corporate with its head office in Delhi ^[4]. The FSSAI and the State Food Safety Authorities enforce the Act, and Food Safety Officers enforce it locally ^[5]. Each State appoints a Commissioner of Food Safety. The Commissioner can prohibit a food in the public interest for up to one year and sanctions prosecutions ^[6].

• Standard-setting powers. By regulation, the FSSAI may set:

  • food standards;
  • limits for additives, contaminants, pesticide and veterinary drug residues, heavy metals, mycotoxins and antibiotics, and rules on irradiation;
  • quality control for imported food;
  • accreditation of laboratories and certification bodies;
  • sampling and analysis methods;
  • labelling, including health, nutrition and special-dietary claims.

  It also handles risk analysis ^[2]. Standards are to be based on risk analysis and to take account of international standards. Where science is uncertain, the FSSAI may take provisional precautionary measures ^[3].

• Rules for food itself (Chapter IV):

  • Additives and processing aids are allowed only as the regulations permit ^[7].
  • Contaminants, natural toxins, hormones and heavy metals may not exceed the limits set in regulations ^[8].
  • Residues of pesticides, veterinary drugs, antibiotics and solvents, and microbial counts, may not exceed tolerance limits. No insecticide may be used directly on food, except fumigants registered under the Insecticides Act, 1968 ^[9].
  • Some food types are controlled specially: novel foods, GM foods, irradiated and organic foods, foods for special dietary uses, functional foods, nutraceuticals, health supplements and proprietary foods. Nobody may make, sell or import them except as the Act and its regulations provide ^[10].
  • Packaged food must be labelled as the regulations require. Labels must not be false or misleading ^[11]. Misleading advertising and unfair trade practices are banned ^[12].

• Imports. Nobody may import unsafe, misbranded or sub-standard food, or food containing extraneous matter. When the Central Government regulates food imports under the Foreign Trade Act, it must follow FSSAI standards ^[13].

• Duties of food business operators:

  • They must ensure compliance at every stage from production to sale. They may not employ anyone with an infectious disease. They must give vendors a written guarantee, and an invoice counts as one ^[14].
  • Liability is split between manufacturers and packers, wholesalers and distributors, and sellers ^[15].
  • An operator "shall immediately initiate" a withdrawal of non-compliant food and inform the authorities ^[16].

• Licensing. No food business may operate without a licence. Petty manufacturers, hawkers, temporary stalls and small or cottage businesses register instead of holding a licence. If a licence is neither granted nor refused within two months, the applicant may start trading ^[17].

• Key definitions. "Unsafe food" is defined through twelve grounds, ranging from poisonous substances and filth to unpermitted additives and contaminants above the limits. Section 3 also defines "misbranded food" and "food business operator" ^[18].

• Offences and penalties. Selling food not of the nature or quality demanded carries a penalty of up to ₹5 lakh, or up to ₹25,000 for small operators who only register ^[19]. The other main penalties are in the table.

• Repeal. Section 97 ^[26] and the Second Schedule repeal the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 and several food orders. These include the Fruit Products, Meat Food Products and Milk and Milk Products Orders, and any other Essential Commodities Act order relating to food ^[27].

Amendments

• 2008: changes to how the FSSAI is constituted ^[28].
• Jan Vishwas, 2023: the penalty changes shown in the table ^[22][25].
• Jan Vishwas, 2026: cuts "six months" to "three months" in section 60 ^[29]. It also turns the fine in the section 39 proviso into a penalty ^[30]. Its other changes replace references to the old criminal codes with the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 ^[31].

The detailed numbers (limits, standards, labelling particulars) sit in FSSAI regulations made under the Act, such as the 2011 Food Products Standards and Food Additives and the Contaminants, Toxins and Residues Regulations, not in the Act itself.

Approach: I read the official English text of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and its 2008, 2023 and 2026 amending provisions. These are the original sections plus separate amendment texts, not a consolidated current version of the Act.