Govt clears major food regulatory reforms

In a step toward promoting ease of doing business while ensuring robust food safety standards, the Ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) has approved a series of comprehensive regulatory and procedural reforms.

The reforms have been finalized following detailed deliberations with states/UTs and stakeholders and are aligned with the recommendations of the high-level committee on non-financial regulatory Reforms constituted by NITI Aayog.

To reduce regulatory burden, the proposal for perpetual or continuous validity of FSSAI registrations and licenses has been approved. Earlier, registrations and licenses were required to be renewed periodically.

Under the revised framework, registrations and licenses will have perpetual validity, eliminating the need for repeated renewals. This reform will substantially reduce compliance costs, paperwork and the need for repeated interaction with licensing authorities for food business operators (FBOs), while improving continuity of operations.

It will enable regulatory resources to focus more effectively towards enforcement, monitoring and capacity-building activities. As part of these reforms, with effect from 1 April, 2026, the turnover threshold for registration has been increased from Rs 12 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore, and for state licensing up to Rs 50 crore, with Central licensing applicable beyond this limit.

This rationalization is intended to empower and strengthen the role of state authorities by enabling them to focus more effectively on oversight, facilitation and enforcement of food safety regulations within their jurisdictions.

For food business operators, particularly micro and small enterprises, the measure will result in simpler compliance requirements, reduced paperwork and fees, elimination of pre-inspection, and instant registration, thereby improving ease of operations.

To address dual compliance requirements, street food vendors registered with municipal corporations or town vending committees under the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 will be considered as deemed registered under FSSAI. This measure will benefit more than 10 lakh street food vendors by eliminating the requirement for multiple registrations across departments.

The reform will significantly reduce compliance burden and enable street food vendors to focus on their livelihoods, hygiene and business operations. Further, a technology-enabled, dynamic risk-based inspection framework has been put in place to incentivize compliant food business operators and reduce repetitive inspections.

Under this framework, inspections will be carried out based on defined risk factors such as risk associated with the nature of food commodity, past compliance record of the food business operator, performance during third-party audits, and inputs from enforcement and surveillance activities. This will ensure focused and transparent regulatory oversight while reducing unnecessary compliance burden on compliant businesses.

These reforms represent a decisive step towards reinforcing Government’s commitment to ensuring safe food for citizens while promoting a transparent, efficient and business-friendly regulatory environment for the food industry.