Steps taken to Strengthen Food Safety, Food Quality Monitoring and Consumer Protection

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Steps taken to Strengthen Food Safety, Food Quality Monitoring and Consumer Protection FSSAI Conducts Over 56,000 Risk-Based Inspections in Three Years to Strengthen Food Safety Oversight; Over 5.18 Lakh Enforcement Food Samples Analysed Across States/UTs Food Safety Oversight with Mandatory Audits, Expanded Testing Infrastructure, and Stricter Enforcement FSSAI Expands Food Safety Ecosystem with 252 Testing Labs, Mobile Food Testing Units, and Mandatory Third-Party Audits Stronger Food Safety Framework Introduced to Improve Labelling Transparency, Monitor Cooking Oil Use, and Protect Consumers

Posted On: 13 MAR 2026 4:34PM by PIB Delhi 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 (FSS) Act, 2006 is a shared responsibility between the Central and State Governments.

While the FSSAI, is responsible for laying down science-based standards and ensuring overall coordination, the State Food Safety Authorities are primarily responsible for enforcement at the field level.

Designated officers (DOs) and Food Safety Officers (FSOs) under the Commissioner of Food Safety in the States/UTs are entrusted with the responsibility of enforcing the provisions of FSS Act, 2006.

State/UT-wise details of Enforcement Samples analysed, found non-conforming and penal action taken during last three years are attached at Annexure.

FSSAI has developed Risk Based Inspection System (RBIS) where frequency of inspection is decided based on risk associated with Food businesses and issued guidelines. Annual inspections are to be conducted for all food categories identified as high risk. The details of risk-based inspections carried out

are as follows:Financial Year Total Risk-based Inspection conducted 2022-23 11904 2023-24 18098 2024-25 26267 Furthermore, all the Food Business Operators (FBOs) (general manufacturing) holding the Central License have to undergo the Third Party Audit from FSSAI empanelled agencies once a year.

FSSAI extends financial and technical assistance to States/UTs for strengthening food safety infrastructure in the country. The support includes the following:

Strengthening Enforcement and Compliance, such as Licensing and Registration Inspections and Audits, Sampling and Testing of Enforcement and Surveillance Samples Consumer Grievance Redressal Capacity Building for Officers.

Strengthening of the Food Testing Ecosystem, such as High-End/ Basic equipment for labs Promotion of FSSAI initiatives such as Eat Right Campus, Eat Right School Flexi Assistance, such as Hiring of vehicles for undertaking inspection and sampling by FSOs and DOs In the States/UTs, 2,997 Food Safety Officers and 668 Designated Officers are working.

Appropriate punitive actions have been taken, in accordance with the provisions of the FSS Act, 2006, against non-compliant Food Business Operators (FBOs). This includes issuance of Improvement Notices under Section 32 of the Act, followed by further action, such as suspension or cancellation of the license in cases of non-compliance. In addition, actions such as penalties, adjudication proceedings, or prosecution have been taken under the relevant provisions of the Act, depending upon the nature and gravity of the violation detected during inspection.

Additionally, FSSAI has notified the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020, which focus on ensuring transparency, accuracy, and consumer awareness. These regulations mandate clear and detailed labelling and display requirements for food products.

In order to restrict used cooking oil, FSSAI mandates FBO to maintain a record of UCO disposal if edible oil consumption for frying is more than 50 litres per day. Also, FSSAI, vide Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Amendment Regulations, 2017 has inserted the provision that “vegetable oil having developed Total Polar Compound more than 25% shall not be used”.

To strengthen the food regulatory ecosystem in the country, FSSAI has notified 252 food testing laboratories for analysis of food samples and 24 Referral Food Laboratories for the analysis of appellate samples. FSSAI has also provided funds for Mobile Food Testing Laboratory (MFTL) referred to as “Food Safety on wheels” (FSW) to States/UTs. It is an important means to combat adulteration as FSWs are equipped with basic infrastructure for on-spot testing of adulteration in various food commodities.

Currently, 305 FSWs are deployed across 35 States/UTs.

Further, for any food safety-related grievances, consumers/citizens can lodge a complaint/ grievance

against the Food Business Operator on https://foscos.fssai.gov.in/consumergrievance/. Grievances may also be submitted via email at helpdesk-foscos@fssai.gov.in or compliance@fssai.gov.in or through the toll-free helpline 1800-11-2100.The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Shri Prataprao Jadhav stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

**** SR HFW/Steps Taken for Food Safety, Food Quality Monitoring and Consumer Protection/13 March 2026/3 Annexure State/UT wise details of Enforcement Samples analysed, found non-conformin (2024-2025) (2023-2024) S. State/UT No. of Civil Criminal Cancelled No. of Civil Crim No. Samples Cases Cases License Samples Cases Cas Analysed Analysed Decided No. of Decided No.

with Convictions with Convic Penalty Penalty 1 Andaman 810 0 0 1 0 0 0 And Nicobar Islands 2 Andhra 5984 464 8 15 6439 646 8 Pradesh 3 Arunachal 125 7 0 5 501 2 0 Pradesh 4 Assam 1705 0 0 19 1139 0 0 5 Bihar 2863 25 0 7 2806 79 0 6 Chandigarh 374 116 41 5 311 87 52 7 Chhattisgarh 2069 143 6 1 1373 86 2 8 Dadra and 56 0 0 0 185 0 0 Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu 9 Delhi 2624 18 16 1 3412 36 1210 Goa 1172 11 0 0 599 17 0 11 Gujarat 12387 859 91 8 15841 1701 65 12 Haryana 2233 599 59 20 3485 593 47 13 Himachal 1587 471 0 3 1618 376 2 Pradesh 14 Jammu & 6955 1,239 29 17 9057 1612 22 Kashmir 15 Jharkhand 364 52 0 1 384 59 0 16 Karnataka 9371 283 32 34 5492 75 16 17 Kerala 10767 1,088 206 40 10792 854 13 18 Ladakh 417 38 0 0 638 19 0 19 Lakshadweep 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 Madhya 13920 2,597 22 3 13998 1938 46 Pradesh 21 Maharashtra 5403 1,147 0 9 5087 154 0 22 Manipur 126 2 0 1 168 0 0 23 Meghalaya 388 0 0 0 123 0 0 24 Mizoram 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 25 Nagaland 223 0 0 0 138 3 0 26 Orissa 2282 27 0 2 2003 0 0 27 Puducherry 173 0 0 0 31 0 0 28 Punjab 4131 333 8 1 6041 1204 10 29 Rajasthan 13840 3,114 30 2 18536 2181 12 30 Sikkim 254 0 0 0 231 0 031 Tamil Nadu 18071 1,536 492 7 18146 2195 47 32 Telangana 3347 125 0 1 6156 425 0 33 Tripura 123 0 0 0 87 0 0 34 Uttar Pradesh 30380 14,920 215 16 27750 14627 16 35 Uttarakhand 1509 256 4 1 1998 332 0 36 West Bengal 14502 672 6 0 5948 285 0 Total 170535 30142 1265 220 170513 29586 116 (Release ID: 2239633) Visitor Counter : 194

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