Gone are the days when food safety meant a routine compliance check by a company’s quality manager. Today it is a high-stakes boardroom topic inside India’s F&B companies — a priority driven by zealous regulators on one side and social media crusaders on the other.
The ongoing nationwide crackdown by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and State food and drug administrations is forcing packaged food brands, tech platforms, and hospitality giants to overhaul their compliance frameworks and, in some cases, redo their labelling. With hyper-vigilant consumers calling out brands and retailers on social media and tagging enforcement agencies, the fear of an inspection raid is real.
Equally, there is a legal pushback as companies question interpretations, leading to a build-up of food regulation-related litigation.
The panic — and the pivot — is visible across the supply chain. Ashwin Bhadri, founder and CEO, Equinox Labs, says the firm has seen a near 200 per cent rise in orders for R&D sample testing in the past two months, including checks on product shelf-life, nutritional profile and other quality parameters. The company is also inundated with requests for second-party audits for dark stores and dark kitchens.
Food safety is moving from the backroom to the boardroom, says Bhadri, pointing out, “Larger established players are getting more conscious about their compliance and safety frameworks than they were in the past, and asking us to conduct internal audits for them.”
The anxiety is even more acute for India’s booming direct-to-consumer (D2C) ecosystem. “Many D2C brands and smaller players are coming to us to help them adhere to quality and safety parameters,” Bhadri says. “They understand that even a single food safety issue or complaint can erode their brand equity overnight. We have begun creating annual operating plans for our clients to enable them to follow safety and quality standards as they raise funds to scale up fast, add more vendors, warehouses and distribution channels. I am getting calls from such companies every other week for guidance on these issues.”
The hospitality sector is feeling the heat too. Hotels and restaurants are stepping up staff training. Pradeep Shetty, Vice President, Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India, and Honorary Secretary, Hotel And Restaurant Association (Western India), says, “We have consistently contributed practical recommendations to help shape regulations that uphold high standards of food safety while remaining workable for hospitality establishments. Through FoSTaC (food safety training and certification) programmes conducted in partnership with FSSAI, HRAWI has since 2017 trained and certified 4,108 food handlers across hotels and restaurants in the five states within our region.”
The efforts have been doubled in view of the recent enforcement actions, he says. “Additionally, we are advising members to conduct weekly internal audits to identify and address compliance gaps.”
One immediate effect of the regulatory scrutiny is the reallocation of corporate budgets towards food safety frameworks. With FSSAI quick to respond to netizens’ complaints on social media, directing them to its Food Safety Connect app, companies are already facing the consequences. Last Thursday, for instance, the FSSAI suspended the licence of Shreyash Retail, following a deluge of 130 consumer complaints, 70 of which alleged the sale of rotten or expired food.
Forcing shifts
Meanwhile, the intense scrutiny is proving a major catalyst for India’s organised branded food players. Many big companies that were compliant on safety are observing that they are finally getting a level-playing field as the regulatory spotlight is actively wiping out counterfeit and unorganised segments, particularly in the dairy sector.
Several states have decided to ban the manufacture and sale of analogue paneer. The FSSAI is also working on amendments in regulations to restrict the manufacture and sale of analogue products nationwide. Leading dairy players say this is strengthening the shift towards branded paneer products not just in B2C but also B2B channels. Demand for branded paneer has shot up and players such as Mother Dairy are witnessing 60-70 per cent increase year-on-year this quarter.
Tech platforms, too, are joining the clean-up act.
In August, Zomato announced a zero-tolerance policy towards the sale of analogue dairy dishes by the restaurants listed on its platform, reserving the right to remove any listing found in violation. It asked restaurant partners to take immediate corrective actions, including transition to natural dairy products, and ensure accurate representation in the product labels and ingredient declarations provided by suppliers.
Rival Swiggy, meanwhile, launched a dedicated 24×7 helpline for customers to report any food safety-related concerns. It also introduced a ‘Food Safety’ channel within its in-app help section.
Raids and arrests
Overall, there has been a significant increase in enforcement action across the food ecosystem countrywide. From April 1 to August 31, food safety enforcement agencies conducted 7.05 lakh inspections and 13,203 raids while issuing 8,151 notices to food business operators. This led to the suspension of 677 food licences and 105 food registrations, alongside the seizure of 35.48 lakh kg and 86,921 litres of food products at a reported value of ₹42.01 crore.
FSSAI officials recently told businessline that more than 100 companies that were pulled up for misleading claims or non-compliant labels have changed their labels. More than 600 people have been arrested or prosecuted in the past few months for violations.
“There is much more awareness among consumers about safety and they are demanding stringent actions. State FDAs have recruited more food safety officers through public service commissions, which have also been asked to expedite the process,” an official says.
On the other hand, companies are fighting back. From alcobev to energy drinks and food products, a slew of manufacturers and sellers are seeking legal recourse over some of the enforcement actions.
“Earlier we used to file two to three petitions a year related to the food safety Act. We have filed as many as 23 petitions in the past three months. So there has been a rise in litigation with some of the larger players taking legal recourse as there are disagreements over how the food safety regulator is interpreting some of the existing regulations. In some recent cases, companies have got a stay on regulatory orders,” says a lawyer specialising in food safety regulation cases, who declined to be identified.
But is this enough? Says Ankur Bisen, Senior Partner, The Knowledge Company, “The enforcement actions have created higher awareness in the packaged food and beverage value chains. Companies are no longer taking a perfunctory approach to brand risks arising from food safety issues.”
He points out, “From sales teams to operations teams to boardrooms, the conversations regarding food safety and compliances have taken centre stage. But a lot more needs to be done to bring a larger shift towards improved benchmarks for food quality and safety, as there are many moving pieces.”
Published on October 12, 2026
