The Office for Safety and Food and Standards of India (FSSAI) has raised a consultation document proposing to limit the permission to supply some products for food business operators with only state and central licenses. These products include food products for babies, sweetened condensed milk, packed drinking water, mineral water and milk powders. The office was looking for stakeholders in the identical comments.
Currently, food operators producing these products are required to acquire FSSAI registration or licenses based on their eligibility.
Earlier, product manufacturers, equivalent to infant nutrition, packed drinking water and mineral water and condensed degreased milk, were obliged to acquire mandatory certification from the India office along with registration or FSSAI license. However, in 2024, the federal government decided to remove the mandatory requirements for BIS certification as a part of its efforts to make sure the convenience of making funds.
In order to strengthen the conformity ecosystem, now FSSAI proposes that existing registered firms that produce these products needs to be under mandatory licensing. He also suggests that recent players desiring to produce these high -risk products to acquire a state or central license to supply these products. Therefore, it proposes to limit firms which have FSSAI registration to acquire permission to create these products.
Obtaining registration
The authority noted that getting registration is related to a fewer compliance obligations in comparison with licensing. Food business operators who obtain FSSAI registration are usually not obliged to submit reports from the product evaluation on a mandatory basis. Unlike license owners, additionally it is non-compulsory for FBOS with registration for annual returns, qualified technical staff of the production process and conducting third party audits. They only must follow very basic hygiene and sanitary standards in comparison with FBO licensed. “In addition, registered FBO may not have technical, financial and infrastructure possibilities to ensure safe production, especially in the case of technically requiring products such as infant food and packed drinking water,” noted FSSAI in his consultation document.
“In order to further strengthen the conformity ecosystem, it was proposed to prevent any new registration and renewal of existing registration to produce specific products. Only state or central licenses are allowed,” he said.
The office said that after finalization a special ride could be carried out to remodel existing registered FBO into a license category. It was also found that it could be transferred about six months of the transition period to enable FBOS to go to the licensing category. According to his estimates, there are over 11,000 food operators who create such products and have FSSAI registration.
Posted on May 2, 2025
