Recent food adulteration scandals show regulatory gaps under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. Critically analyse, and suggest reforms to strengthen FSSAI.

The Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA), 2006 brought India's many food laws under one law. It set up FSSAI to make science-based standards [2], under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare [4]. But the Tirupati laddu case shows that standards on paper did not become enforcement on the ground. Investigators allege that 68 lakh kg of fake ghee, worth ₹250 crore, reached TTD between 2019 and 2024 [1].

Strengths of the framework

• Single regulator replacing a fragmented system of food laws [2].
• Product-specific standards: ghee is defined under sub-regulation 2.1.8 of the FSS (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 [3].
• Graded penalties for food that is sub-standard, misbranded or unsafe [2].

Gaps exposed

• Detection lag: the supply ran for about five years before it was caught. This points to weak testing when goods are bought [1].
• Federal enforcement deficit: States do most of the enforcement work [4]. As a result, lab capacity and staffing differ widely from State to State.
• Bulk-buyer blind spot: large institutional buyers often rely on tender terms and supplier certificates. Independent testing of each batch is not the norm.
• Inter-State supply chains: the supplier was based in Maharashtra and the buyer in Andhra Pradesh [1]. This makes tracing the source difficult.
• Weak deterrence: catching organised fraud needed the CBI and ED [1]. Penalties under the FSSA alone did not deter it.
• Politicisation: public remarks by office-holders forced the Supreme Court to restrain comment [1]. This weakens trust in neutral, science-based findings.

Reforms to strengthen FSSAI

• Lab infrastructure: more accredited labs, mobile testing units (Food Safety on Wheels) and rapid tests for fat adulterants.
• Procurement safeguards: mandatory batch testing and third-party audits for bulk buyers, with blacklisting of offenders.
• Traceability: digital batch tracking for dairy products, linked to FSSAI's licensing portal (FoSCoS) so that States can share data.
• Capacity of State Food Safety Authorities: a dedicated cadre and Central funding tied to enforcement results.
• Deterrence: fast-track adjudication, with organised adulteration also prosecuted under anti-money-laundering law.
• Credible communication: findings released only through accredited labs, not political statements.

The FSSA's standards are sound, but its testing, enforcement and deterrence are weak. FSSAI needs to move from setting standards to working as a regulator that is driven by testing and backed by traceability. That would protect Article 21's right to health and support SDG 3 (good health), and with it public trust in food sold in markets and at temples alike.