Food License (FSSAI) Registration Decoded

(FSSAI REGISTRATION)

Every Person engaged in food Business (whether it be a restaurant business, manufacturing business, trading business or repacking/ relabelling business) must obtain a 14 Digit FSSAI Registration or Licence Number under FOOD SAFETY AND STANDARDS ACT, 2006

ABOUT FSSAI

FSSAI stands for Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. The authority was established under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 to monitor, govern and lay standards for food business operators in India and to regulate their manufacturing, storage, distribution, sale and import.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India also ensure that Food Safety Guidelines and Act is followed and enforced in its in letter and spirit and to provide stringent punishments for any non-compliance.

The Food & Grocery market in India is the sixth largest in the world. Food & Grocery retail market in India further constitutes almost 65% of the total retail market in India. As per the information available on the Invest India Portal of Government of India, it is expected that by 2020, Indian Food and Retail market is projected to touch $828.92 bn.

ABOUT FSSAI REGISTRATION

In a Country like India where food industry offers huge opportunities for investments with stimulating growth in the food retail sector, it becomes very important to Government to provide providing safe food to the citizens and prevent all those fraud or wrong practices that our food industry is facing today.

In India it is mandatory for eligible food business operators like manufacturers, transporters, storage, retailers, marketers, distributors etc to obtain Registration/ Incense from Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. All Food Business Operators in the country will be registered or licensed in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Act and Regulations made thereunder.

EXEMPTION FROM FSSAI REGISTRATION

The following food business operators are exempted from obtaining Registration/ Incense from Food Safety and Standards Authority of India:

• A petty manufacturer who himself manufactures or sells any article of food or a petty retailer
• Hawker
• Itinerant vendor
• Temporary stall holder
• Small scale or cottage or such other industries relating to food business or tiny food business operator;

CATEGORY OF REGISTRATION

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) license is categorised in three categories according to the turnover/production capacity of the business.

S.No.	Turnover/Production	Category
1.	Turnover upto 12 lac per annum	Registration Category
2.	Turnover more than 12 lac and upto 20 crore per annum (30 crores for wholesale business)	State Licence
3.	Turnover more than 20 crore per annum (more than 30 crores for wholesale business) and mandatory for all importers	Central Licence

VALIDITY OF FSSAI REGISTRATION/ LICENSE

A Registration or license granted under the Act shall be valid and subsist for a period for a period of minimum 1 year and maximum 5 years in one time. The right to choose the registration period is with Food Business Operators.

The Registration/ license can be renewed for a further period for a period of  1 to 5 years on filling of Form A or B of Schedule 2, as the case may be, not later than 30 days prior to the expiry date and on payment of such fee as may be prescribed under the Act and Regulations made thereunder.

FSSAI LICENSE FEE

The License fee required to be paid to the department varies for different category of Registration. The License fee prescribed by the FSSAI is yearly fee and will be calculated depending on the number of years for which registration is obtained. A table below shows the bifurcation of fee for all the three categories.

(in INR)

	New Registration	Renewal of Registration	Modification of License	Duplicate of License
Registration Category	100 INR per year	100 INR per year	—-	10% of the Applicable Certificate Fee
State License	2000 to 5000 INR per year (varies from business to business)	2000 to 5000 INR per year (varies from business to business)	2000 to 5000 INR per year (varies from business to business)	10% of the Applicable License Fee
Central License	7500 INR per year	7500 INR per year	7500 INR per year	10% of the Applicable License Fee

 FOOD LICENSING & REGISTRATION SYSTEM

FSSAI REGISTRATION

STEP 1: Eligible food business operators like manufacturers, transporters, storage, retailers, marketers, distributors etc having turnover upto 12 lac per annum are required to file “Form A” with the department along with the payment of applicable fees.

STEP 2: Consideration of application by Registering Authority

STEP 3: Registration or rejection of application by Registrar within 7 days of receipt of an application. Registrar may order inspection of site within 7 days and certificate will then be issued within a period of 30 days

Note: A reasonable opportunity of being heard is given to food business operators before rejection.

FSSAI LICENSE

As discussed above food license is divided into 2 categories, State License and Central License on the basis of turnover of the food business operators.

STEP 1: Eligible food business operators like manufacturers, transporters, storage, retailers, marketers, distributors etc having turnover more than 12 lac per annum are required to file “Form B” with the department for State/ Central License along with the payment of applicable fees.

STEP 2: Scrutiny of application by Licensing Authority

STEP 3: Licensing Authority may within 15 days of receipt of the application, ask for additional information with respect to an application which need to be complied within 30 days from such notice.

STEP 4: Rejection of application if food business operators fails to furnish the additional information within the time limit.

STEP 5: On being satisfied, Licensing Authority will grant Application ID number for all future references.

STEP 6: Inspection of premises by Food Safety Officer

STEP 7: Food Safety Officer may ask for changes or alterations in the premises which needs to be complied within 30 days from receipt of intimation in this behalf.

STEP 8: On being satisfied License will be issued by the Licensing Authority

Note: License is generally issued within a period of 45 to 60 days from date of issue of an application ID number

DECODING FSSAI NUMBER

Each of the 14 digits in FSSAI number is explained below:

1. First Digit- The First Digit in FSSAI number denotes whether it is License number or Registration Number, where digit “1” denotes license and digit “2” denotes Registration.

2. Second and Third Digit- These two Digits denotes State/ Union Territory Code of the food business operators. For Central License the code will remain “00” and for State License and Registration, FSSAI has defined the codes for each state.

3. Forth and Fifth Digit- These two Digits indicates, the year of start of Food business. For example, if business is started in year 2019, the code with be “19” and for 2020 the code will be “20”.

4. Sixth to Eighth Digit- These three Digits indicates the Designated/ Registrar officers under whose jurisdiction Registration/ License comes. FSSAI has defined numbers for each Designated/ Registrar officers.

5. Ninth to Fourteenth Digit- These 6 digits are the serial number of Food Business Operator under a particular designated officer.

As per the recent Direction issued by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Registration Certificates/Licenses issued offline shall have serial numbers to start with digit 8 or 9 (series 800000-999999), starting with 800000 in case offline license is obtained during situations like complete lockdown of internet services, natural calamities or unforeseen technical glitch in online licensing system.

COLOR CODES FOR FOOD BUSINESS

FSSAI in order to make consumer aware and to strengthen food safety has introduced the concept of Food Safety Display Boards (FSDBs). Every food business operator is mandatorily required to display FSDBs at their premises.

FSDBs are colour coded display board that provides information on food safety and hygiene practices to be followed by FBO in their establishment. Every food business is given a colour code for enabling consumer to recognise the business of FBO with an ease.

Following are the colour code assigned to different kind of food businesses: