6 Things You Must Not Forget Before Applying for FSSAI Registration

Mudit Handa | Updated: Nov 26, 2020 | Category: FSSAI

Applying for FSSAI registration or food license online is pre-requisite if you are engaged into any sort of food business operations (FBO), whether it is related to manufacturing, processing, packaging, distribution, storage or even retailing.

FSSAI is a phrase for the Food Safety & Standards Authority of India. FSSAI is the apex regulatory body which was autonomously established by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India.

FSSAI has been set up under the Food Safety & Standards Act, 2006 with the main motive to enhance food hygiene and ensure food safety in India.

Table of Contents

Who Issues the FSSAI Registration or License?

The apex body responsible for issuing FSSAI registration of a Food License is the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), which comes under the Ministry of Family Health & Welfare, Government of India.

Applicability of FSSAI Registration

Obtaining an FSSAI registration or food license online is an elementary requirement prior to commencing any sort of food business activity.

Food licensing is an obligatory requirement for all small scale as well as the large scale FBOs. The main objective of FSSAI behind mandatory food license online is to make sure that safe, pure, wholesome and nutritious food is available to the consumers, which is fit for consumption.

The Challenge to the Smooth Process of Food License Online

The process of issuing the food license online solely depends on the endorsement of application from the FSSAI Authority. For the most part, this is something that takes quite a lot of time.

It is a matter of concern that the procedure of FSSAI licensing and registration is undergoing huge delays from the Authority end. Due to this, the food businesses (FBOs) are suffering unwanted hindrances. There have been instances where the FBOs are able to obtain the FSSAI basic registration after more than a months’ time.

In a bid to make the food licensing procedure easier, Government has shared some useful guidelines to avoid delays in the processing of the applications.

The FBOs must carefully follow these guidelines to prevent slip-ups from their end that might cause a delay in the registration process.

6 Crucial things to know before applying for Food License Online

Here are 6 most important things to know while applying for FSSAI registration:

Criteria for Food licensing:

The Criteria for Food licensing is based on 2 aspects:

Aggregate turnover of the FBOs
Type of business activity

On the basis of the Aggregate turnover:

Food Businesses with aggregate turnover till₹12 Lakhs are eligible for Basic FSSAI registration.
Food Businesses with aggregate turnover between ₹12 Lakhs and ₹20 Crores are eligible for FSSAI State license.
Food Businesses with an aggregated turnover beyond ₹20 Crores are eligible for FSSAI Central license.

On the basis of the type of business activity, the FBOs are given food license as per their production capacity, such as:

Type of FBO	Basic registration	State license	Central license
Dairy units	Up to 500 l/day	500 to 50,000 l/day	Beyond 50,000 l/day
Vegetable oil processing units	Turnover up to 12 lakhs/annum	Capacity till 2 MT per day and turnover over 12 lakh per annum	Capacity above 2 MT per day
Slaughtering unit	At least: – 2 Large animals, 10 Small animals50 Poultry Birds; per day	Large animals: 3 to 50Small animals: 11 to 150Poultry Birds: 51 up to 1000; per day	Large animals: above 50Small animals: above 150Poultry Birds: above 1000
Meat processing	Turnover till 12 lakh/annum	Meat capacity: 500 kg per day or 150 MT per annum	Meat capacity: Above 500 kg per day or 150 MT per annum

Moreover, the 100% Export oriented units, Importers importing food items for commercial uses, Food catering units in Central Government Agencies like Railways, Air and Airport, Seaport and Defence are required to get mandatory Central License.

No excessive documentation

FSSAI has been clearly stated that unnecessary or irrelevant documentation for FSSAI application causes much more delay in the registration process, and this must be prevented.

The correct documentation can be done easily by referring to the FSSAI portal.
The checklist for mandatory documents needed for all kinds of FBOs has been shared on the FSSAI- Food Licensing & Registration System (FLRS) govt. portal.
The applicants, as well as the Food licensing authorities^[1], must adhere to that checklist and should accordingly submit documents for the FSSAI applications.

Know Reason for Additional documentation required

In case any additional documentation is asked for during the FSSAI registration, and those auxiliary documents are quoted as essential, then it’s important for the FBO to know the reason behind the same.

Clarification for Additional documentation required is always sent by the FSSAI department for uploading extra documents on the FLRS portal. The FBO must take note of the same.
The said clarification reasons is to be duly submitted to the Food Safety Commissioner or to the Director of Regional Office, FSSAI for the purpose of reviewing.

No frequent queries raised

One of the key issues of the FBOs these days has been that endless queries have been raised by FSSAI authorities to their FSSAI application. This is something that causes huge delays in the registration procedure.

Now, the FSSAI has directed the licensing authorities that inquiries must not be raised in one after another. Instead, the entire FSSAI application shall now be carefully inspected by the department, and all the discrepancies in the application shall be reported to the applicant in one go. The applicant can then resolve all the queries easily all at once.

Central licensing authorities for FBO in Railways & Airports premises

If your Food catering unit is located under the Railways & Airports premises, you need to get the FSSAI Central License. The respective bodies responsible for issuing a license in both cases are given below:

FSSAI Central license for the FBOs in Railways premises is issued by the Designated Officers/Registering Authorities of Indian Railways, which are notified by the FSSAI Authority from time to time.
FSSAI Central license for FBOs at the Airport or Seaport premises are issued by:
Airport Health Officers (APHOs); or
Port Health Officers (PHOs)

These have been notified as the Designated Officers (DOs) by the FSSAI department.

For the Airports and Seaports, where the APHOs/PHOs have not yet been notified as the DOs, the Central Licensing Authority (CLA) of that particular region shall issue Central license.

State License for Company form of business

There’s no doubt that criteria for applying for FSSAI registration are judged on the basis of the Aggregate turnover of the FBO.

Nevertheless, it is important to note that if your type of business is a Public or Private Ltd. Company, you have to opt for FSSAI state license.

On a logical note, if an FBO is running as a Public or Private Limited Company, its turnover would not be as low as below ₹12 Lakhs. This would be in the range of ₹12 Lakhs to ₹20 crores or above. Hence, in such case, FBO is eligible for FSSAI state license.

These are some noteworthy guidelines that every FBO should know before applying for Food license online.

Undoubtedly, cautiously applying for FSSAI license or registration as per the above guidelines can avoid unnecessary delays.