FSSAI festive-season drive: 52 food licences cancelled, 1,133 suspended
A nationwide food safety drive led by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has seen 52 licences cancelled and 1,133 suspended. Another 314 establishments were sealed, the FSSAI said on 7 November 2026. Between 1 September and 5 November, 56,431 food establishments were inspected. Officers issued 10,047 improvement notices; seizures included paneer, ghee, milk and sweets.
Syllabus: GS2 · Federalism & Local Government; Prelims · Polity & Governance; GS2 · Statutory & Regulatory Bodies
Why this matters for UPSC
GS2 governance and GS3 food safety: the FSSAI and the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. Prelims can ask who issues an improvement notice; Mains, how States enforce central food standards.
Why it matters
A family buying sweets, ghee or paneer for Diwali has no way to test them at home. It depends on an officer having checked the shop first. A drive like this one puts officers in the busiest markets at the moment demand peaks, so adulterated or unsafe stock is more likely to be pulled before it reaches a plate. The ladder of notice, suspension and cancellation also tells a shopkeeper that most lapses can be fixed, while a serious one can close the business. The larger issue is whether food safety in India rests on yearly festival campaigns or on steady checks through the year, run by State officers under central standards.
Prelims pointers
- The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 extends to the whole of India and consolidated the earlier laws relating to food.
- The FSSAI is a statutory authority that functions under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
- A Designated Officer grants food licences and serves improvement notices; a Food Safety Officer takes samples, seizes food and inspects premises.
- Petty manufacturers, hawkers, itinerant vendors and temporary stall holders need no food licence but must register under the 2006 Act.
- The Commissioner of Food Safety may prohibit an article of food in the State in the interest of public health for up to one year.
- Appeals against an improvement notice, or a licence's suspension or cancellation, lie to the Commissioner of Food Safety, whose decision is final.
- The 2006 Act's definition of food covers packaged drinking water and alcoholic drink but excludes animal feed, drugs and cosmetics.
Practise a UPSC-style question
With reference to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), consider the following statements:
1. It was established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
2. It functions under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
3. The Act under which it was set up defines food to include animal feed.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Show the answer
Answer: (a) 1 only
Answer: (a) 1 only. The FSSAI comes from the 2006 Act; its ministry is Health, and the Act keeps animal feed out of food.
Statement 1: correct. The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 establishes the FSSAI, which the Act calls the Food Authority.
Statement 2: incorrect. The FSSAI's licensing regulations of 2011 were notified under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the ministry it functions under.
Statement 3: incorrect. The Act's definition of food expressly excludes animal feed, along with drugs, cosmetics and plants before harvest.
Eliminate: Statement 1 is the surest: the FSSAI is the 2006 Act's own creation, so every option without 1 goes. Out: (b), (c).
Eliminate: Statement 2 is wrong, as the FSSAI sits under the Health ministry, so the option holding all three falls. Out: (d).
Trap: Swapped attribution. A food regulator sounds as if it belongs to the food and public distribution ministry, but the FSSAI works under the Health ministry.
Remember: FSSAI: Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006; Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
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