Parliament Question: Violations under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006

GOVERNMENTOFINDIA MINISTRYOFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE DEPARTMENTOFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE LOK SABHA UNSTARREDQUESTION NO. 4604 TO BE ANSWERED ON20th MARCH, 2026 VIOLATIONS UNDERTHE FOOD SAFETYAND STANDARDSACT, 2006 4604. SHRI K C VENUGOPAL: SHRI SAPTAGIRI SANKAR ULAKA: SHRI KARTI PCHIDAMBARAM: ADV. ADOOR PRAKASH: DR. MOHAMMAD JAWED: Will the Ministerof HEALTHANDFAMILYWELFAREbe pleasedtostate: (a)the numberof cases inwhich penalties were imposed andpunishments were awardedfor non-conformance underthe Food SafetyandStandardsAct, 2006,year-wisesince 2020; (b) the year-wisedetails of FoodBusiness Operators (FBOs) penalisedor punished since 2020underthe categoriesof substandard food, misbranded food, food containingextraneous matterandunsafe food; and (c)whether the Government hascarried out anyawareness campaignstopreventsuch violationsandimprove compliance with food safety standards andif so, the detailsthereof? ANSWER THE MINISTEROFSTATE IN THE MINISTRYOFHEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (SHRIPRATAPRAO JADHAV) (a) to (c): Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is mandated to lay down science based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption. The implementation and enforcement of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006isa shared responsibility betweenthe Central andStateGovernments.Surveillance drives, monitoring, regulatory inspection and random sampling of various food products are conducted by the officials of Food Safety Departments of the respective States/ UTs and Regional offices of FSSAI to check compliance with the quality and safety parameters in food products as laid down under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and Regulations made thereunder. If any violations are observed, strict regulatory actions have been enforced against the offenders in accordance with the provisions of FSS Act. Detailsof numberof FoodSamples tested andpenalizedfor last 5Years asunder: - DetailsofEnforcementforlast5Years. Non-ConformingSamples CivilCases CriminalCases No. of No. ofSamples Labelling Year Samples found Sub defects/ Decided Penalties No.of Penalties Analysed non-confoUnsafe Standar Misleading/ with Raised ConvictioRaised rming d Miscellaneo Penalty (CrRs.) ns (CrRs.) us 2024- 170535 34388 7945 22516 3931 30142 35.74 1265 3.03 25 2023- 170513 33808 6782 22603 4423 29586 74.12 1161 2.67 24 2022- 1,77,511 44,626 6,579 21,917 16,130 28,464 33.23 1188 2.75 23 2021- 1,44,345 32,934 4,890 16,582 11,462 19,437 53.39 671 1.38 22 2020- 1,07,829 28,347 5,220 13,394 9,733 14,817 49.92 506 0.83 21 Further, FSSAI has taken following strategies specially to address the concern of adulterationinthe food value chain:-  FSSAI has implemented Risk Based Inspections System [RBIS] to prioritize the inspections of the premises of the high risk Food Business Operators (FBOs). FSSAI has provided a platform on the Food Safety Compliance System (FoSCoS) portal, where on successful registration of a complaint by the consumer, State Food Safety Department/Regional officesdependingonthe jurisdiction take up the cases asperthe provisions laidunderthe FSS Act, 2006  252 laboratories have been notified by FSSAI for primary testing of food and 24 Referral Laboratories. FSSAI has also provided Mobile Food Testing Laboratory (MFTL) referred to as “Food Safety on wheels” (FSW) to States/UTs for on spot testing of adulteration in various food commodities. So far, 305 MFTLs have been procured & deployed by States/UTs against the funds providedby FSSAIfor 541 MFTLs.  FoodSafetyMagic Boxes, meticulouslyfacilitatethedetectionof adulterationinfood. It consists of reliable "quickscreening tests" that a commonperson canperform at the household level.  FSSAI published DART Booklet i.e., “Detect Adulteration with Rapid Test” which coversmore than50quicktests for different categoriesof foods.  FSSAI under its Food Safety Training and Certification (FoSTaC) programme, provides training to persons involved in food businesses and food handling. The objective of this programme is to enhance the availability of skilled and trained manpower inthe food industry, promote animproved environment of self-compliance with the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and its Rules and Regulations, encourage responsible practices among food businesses and bring about behavioural change while inculcating a strong culture of food safety across the country. ********