← Policy & Regulation-Standards & approvals (all topics)
FSSAI food & nutraceutical regulation
What it is
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India regulates food, health supplements and nutraceuticals - licensing manufacturers, approving ingredients and additives, setting labelling and claim rules, and enforcing residue and contaminant limits
Ayurveda Aahara standards created a defined category for ayurvedic foods within the same framework, and export consignments face additional testing on residues
Impact on industries
- Formal standards legitimise a category long dominated by unregulated products, which favours organised players with compliance capability
- Approved-ingredient lists and claim rules give a compliant manufacturer a defensible position against informal competitors
- Claim substantiation has tightened as the category grew, so marketing latitude has narrowed for supplements and functional foods
- Licensing, testing and labelling compliance is a fixed cost, weighing disproportionately on small manufacturers
- The same authority governs food, supplements and ayurvedic foods, so a product's classification determines which rules and claims apply