Why in the News?
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare recently approved major regulatory and procedural reforms in India's food sector from April 1, 2026.
What reforms have been undertaken?
- Government has issued orders to bring changes in licensing requirements as per the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011, under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
- They align with the recommendations of the NITI Aayog's high-level committee on non-financial regulatory reforms.
- Reforms Include:
- FSSAI License requirement: Introduction of perpetual validity for FSSAI registrations and licenses, removing the need for periodic renewals.
- Revised turnover thresholds for businesses:
- Registration: Businesses with an annual turnover of up to Rs. 1.5 crore (raised from Rs. 12 lakh).
- State License: Businesses with a turnover between Rs. 1.5 crore and Rs. 50 crore.
- Central License: Businesses with a turnover above Rs. 50 crore.
- Street Vendor Licensing: To eliminate duplicate registrations, street food vendors who are already registered with municipal corporations or town vending committees under the Street Vendors Act, 2014, will now be treated as automatically registered with the FSSAI.
- Significance: These have been introduced to reduce compliance costs, paperwork, and repeated interactions with licensing authorities for micro and small businesses.
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)
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Major issues in India's food sector
- Adulteration and Contamination: Food adulteration remains a severe public health hazard, with daily essentials like milk, spices, edible oils, and packaged foods frequently being adulterated with chemical dyes and artificial ripening agents.
- Recently, Rajasthan Cooperative Dairy Federation collected 7299 samples, out of which 48.24% of the samples contained water adulteration and 1.41% chemical contamination.
- Issues with testing: There are 266 laboratories in the country, many of which lack facilities to test essential parameters like heavy metal, pesticide and bacterial contamination (Standing committee report).
- Surveillance issue: Parliamentary Committee noted that only 2% of inspections conducted in recent years reported non-compliance, which is considered unrealistically low given the scale of adulteration, suggesting weak surveillance.
- Poor Coordination: Insufficient coordination between FSSAI and other departments (such as the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals) hampers the implementation of packaging regulations.
- Vast Unorganized Sector: A massive portion of India's food production and distribution occurs in the unregulated informal sector, including street vendors and small-scale businesses, making it incredibly difficult to monitor quality and enforce safety standards.
- Regulatory Apathy: Despite having a legal framework, the FSSAI struggles with severe structural failures, including a massive shortage of Food Safety Officers.
- Deceptive Marketing: The massive health supplement and nutraceutical market often exploits regulatory loopholes by making scientifically unsubstantiated claims
- E.g., "clinically tested," "Ayurvedic," or height-enhancing to mislead consumers.
Conclusion
India's food sector reforms should balance ease of doing business with effective regulation by strengthening enforcement, improving institutional capacity, and formalising the informal sector. Ensuring food safety through better standards, traceability, and consumer awareness, while addressing health concerns from unhealthy diets and misleading marketing, is crucial.
At the same time, growth-oriented initiatives like the Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industry (PLISFPI) with a ₹10,900 crore outlay can boost investment, innovation, and overall sectoral development.
