Food Laws in India and FSSAI Practice
Our Environmental, Food & Packaging Laws practice advises food manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retail businesses across the three intersecting bodies of law that govern food businesses in India: the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and FSSAI’s subordinate regulations; the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 and the Packaged Commodities Rules; and the intellectual property framework that protects food brands and packaging.
- We advise clients on FSSAI licensing across all three tiers — basic registration, state licence, and central licence — and on the upgrade obligations that apply as businesses grow.
- We conduct pre-launch labelling and claims reviews against the Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018 and the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020 — before packaging artwork is finalised.
- A pre-launch labelling and claims compliance review costs a fraction of what a regulatory notice, a reformulation, or a re-labelling exercise costs after the product is in the market.
- Our Trademark practice handles food brand registration across India and 130+ countries. We advise food businesses to file trademark and design registration before market visibility is gained.
- For food counterfeiting, our IP Enforcement & Anti-Counterfeiting practice coordinates trademark civil and criminal remedies with FSSAI enforcement referrals as a single enforcement programme.
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FSSAI — The Regulatory Architecture
We advise food businesses on FSSAI licensing and registration under the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011 — determining the correct tier (basic registration, state licence, or central licence) based on turnover and operational scope, managing renewal timelines, and advising on the upgrade obligations as a business grows. Businesses outgrowing their initial licence tier without updating it is the most common and most avoidable source of FSSAI regulatory exposure we encounter.
Health and Nutritional Claims — Our Pre-Launch Compliance Review
We conduct pre-launch reviews of all health and nutritional claims against the Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018 — categorising each claim, confirming the food meets the nutrient profile conditions, and verifying that each claim appears only in a FSSAI-permitted form of words. FSSAI has actively enforced against businesses making unpermitted or unsubstantiated claims.
“A pre-launch labelling and claims compliance review costs a fraction of what a regulatory notice, a reformulation, or a re-labelling exercise costs after the product is in the market. We advise clients to conduct this review before the packaging artwork is finalised.”FSSAI Labelling Requirements — What We Check
We review all packaging against the mandatory declarations under the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020: name of the food; list of ingredients in descending order of weight; net contents; manufacturer, packer, and importer details; country of origin for imported foods; batch or lot number; date of manufacture and best before or use by date; nutritional information per 100g or 100ml. We also advise on front-of-pack labelling requirements for foods exceeding the specified thresholds for total fat, saturated fat, total sugar, and sodium.
Brand Protection — Our Trademark and Enforcement Advisory
Our Trademark practice handles brand name registration in the relevant classes — Class 30 for most food products, Class 29 for processed foods and dairy, Class 32 for beverages — and manages the registration portfolio through oppositions, renewals, and enforcement. For food counterfeiting, our IP Enforcement & Anti-Counterfeiting practice coordinates civil remedies (injunction, delivery up, damages), criminal complaint under Section 103 of the Trade Marks Act, and referral to FSSAI for food safety enforcement where a counterfeit product also violates food standards. Our Environmental, Food & Packaging Laws, Trademark, IP Enforcement, and Consumer Protection & Advertising Laws practices work as a coordinated team across 13 partners and 220+ professionals from offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Bangalore.
Frequently Asked Questions
food-laws-fssai-practice-faq
The correct FSSAI licence tier — basic registration, state licence, or central licence — is determined by the scale of the food business, principally by annual turnover and whether operations span a single state or multiple states. The thresholds are set in the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011 and must be verified against the current Regulations before any determination. A business that outgrows its current licence tier must upgrade; operating under the wrong tier is itself a compliance failure.
The Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018 divide permitted claims into nutrient content claims, comparative claims, and health claims. Health claims may only be made for foods meeting FSSAI’s nutrient profile conditions and only in the specific forms of words permitted by the Regulations. FSSAI has actively enforced against businesses making claims not permitted or not substantiated under the 2018 Regulations.
The Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020 require: name of the food; list of ingredients in descending order of weight; net contents by weight or volume; manufacturer, packer, and importer details; country of origin for imported foods; batch or lot number; date of manufacture and best before or use by date; and nutritional information per 100g or 100ml. Additional front-of-pack labelling is required for foods exceeding the specified thresholds for total fat, saturated fat, total sugar, and sodium.
An FSSAI show-cause notice requires a timely response that addresses both the factual and regulatory basis of the allegation — the specific compliance gap alleged, the steps taken to remediate it, and, where appropriate, the legal grounds for challenging the notice. Response quality materially affects the outcome. A delayed or generic response weakens the business’s position considerably.
Both frameworks apply to pre-packaged food and some requirements overlap, but they are distinct. FSSAI’s Labelling and Display Regulations, 2020 require ingredient lists, nutritional information, and food-specific declarations. The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 require the MRP inclusive of all taxes, net quantity in standard units, and month and year of manufacture. A packaged food product must satisfy both frameworks simultaneously — compliance with one does not excuse non-compliance with the other.