Key Details
The amendment is part of the Government’s broader Ease of Doing Business agenda, using risk-based regulation to reduce unnecessary compliance for lower-risk food businesses while maintaining stringent food safety and traceability requirements where they are most critical.
Policy Component | Key Change | Policy Objective |
|---|---|---|
Regulation amended | Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Amendment Regulations, 2026 | Updates the 2011 licensing regulations under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 |
Compliance rationalisation | Record-keeping and FIFO/FEFO stock-rotation requirements now apply only to food manufacturers | Aligns compliance obligations with food safety risks |
Businesses benefiting | Retailers and other non-manufacturing food businesses exempted from these requirements | Reduces compliance burden, particularly for MSMEs |
Food safety safeguards | Manufacturing businesses continue to follow record-keeping and stock-rotation requirements | Preserves traceability, quality assurance and consumer protection |
Broader reform programme | Builds on perpetual licences, revised turnover thresholds, risk-based inspections and other compliance reforms | Advances Ease of Doing Business without weakening regulatory oversight |
Ease of Doing Business Drives the Latest Food Regulation Reform
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has notified the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Amendment Regulations, 2026, amending the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011. The reform is intended to improve Ease of Doing Business by removing compliance requirements that are no longer considered necessary for lower-risk food businesses while ensuring that essential food safety controls remain in place.
Rather than applying identical compliance obligations across the food sector, the amendment adopts a risk-based regulatory approach, concentrating stricter requirements on activities where food safety and traceability risks are highest.
Compliance Requirements Are Now Linked to Risk
Under the previous framework, all licensed food businesses were required to maintain prescribed records and follow First In, First Out (FIFO) or First Expiry, First Out (FEFO) stock-rotation practices. These requirements will now apply only to food manufacturing businesses, where inventory management and traceability directly influence product quality and consumer safety.
Retailers and other non-manufacturing food businesses have been exempted from these obligations, reducing procedural costs without altering core food safety standards.
Part of a Wider Regulatory Simplification Programme
The amendment forms part of FSSAI’s ongoing programme to simplify regulation while maintaining effective oversight. Recent reforms include:
Perpetual licences and registrations instead of periodic renewals.
Revised turnover thresholds for licensing and registration.
Removal of dual compliance requirements for street-food vendors.
Risk-based inspection systems that prioritise higher-risk businesses.
Implementation of recommendations made by NITI Aayog’s High-Level Committee on Non-Financial Regulatory Reforms.
Together, these measures reflect a gradual shift from uniform regulation towards proportionate, outcome-oriented compliance, allowing regulators to focus resources where public health risks are greatest.
What is FIFO/FEFO?
FIFO (First In, First Out) means older stock is used or sold before newer stock. FEFO (First Expiry, First Out)prioritises products with the earliest expiry date. Both methods help minimise spoilage and prevent expired food products from reaching consumers.
Policy Relevance
Advances the Government’s Ease of Doing Business agenda by reducing unnecessary compliance requirements for lower-risk food businesses.
Introduces a more risk-based regulatory framework, allowing enforcement resources to focus on higher-risk manufacturing activities.
Reduces compliance costs for retailers and other non-manufacturing food businesses, particularly small and medium enterprises.
Preserves food safety by retaining stringent record-keeping and traceability requirements where production-related risks are highest.
Reinforces FSSAI’s broader transition towards simpler, outcome-oriented regulation, complementing reforms such as perpetual licences, risk-based inspections and simplified licensing.
Demonstrates how recommendations of NITI Aayog’s High-Level Committee on Non-Financial Regulatory Reforms are being translated into sector-specific regulatory reforms.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: As India expands risk-based regulation across sectors, how should regulators identify which compliance requirements genuinely improve public safety and which can be simplified without weakening consumer protection?
Follow the Full Notification Here: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Notifies Amendments to FSSAI Licensing and Registration Regulations