All Food Business Operators have to register for an FSSAI Licence if they are planning to run their establishment legally. Simply put, Food business operators are establishments or companies that are directly or indirectly working with food. They could be working for-profit or nonprofit. Furthermore, don't have to be working with the food directly but can handle this through tasks like the packaging or transportation of food. All companies falling in this line of work need to apply for an FSSAI licence. Additionally, they have to apply for two separate FSSAI licences if the nature of their work varies or if they filled out the application with details about one line of work and then considered switching streams. All information about the company should be made known to the FSSAI, and they double-check this information when they come for an inspection.
FSSAI is the primary body responsible for maintaining and supervising food safety. Their primary purposes are to protect the people consuming the food and make sure they are safe. Furthermore, they make sure that food consumption is unadulterated and follows the basic requirements, so it is in par with the rest of the establishments across the country.
Food business operators running their businesses have to apply for and receive an FSSAI licence if they want protection from the FSSAI, who conduct multiple inspections to make sure establishments are meeting their requirements. If establishments are open to the public, without a Food licence, they could face huge fines and penalties, including being shut down permanently.
The main challenge when it comes to getting a licence is that three separate licences have to be applied for. Each of these has varying criteria and some of their requirements have to be assumed about a future year, for instance, the probable annual turnover of the company, or the number of branches planning on expanding to.
A recent report showed the massive benefits of working with the FSSAI and how the implementation of these rules and regulations were appearing promising across the country. Unfortunately, however, the FSSAI mentioned that they are running out of manpower and are not sure how to keep up with their inspections in some Indian States.
In larger Indian states, they cannot check out all establishments since many of them open their doors and begin a business without a license. Without sufficient manpower, there is nothing that the FSSAI can do since they are catching and penalising many, but there are so many more that the process becomes quite challenging.