FSSAI Steps Up Festive Food Safety Checks Across India With Special Inspections on Sweets, Dairy, and Edible Oils

With the festive season in full swing across India—spanning Navratri, Dussehra, and Diwali—the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has directed states and Union Territories to initiate a nationwide crackdown against adulterated and unsafe food products. Highlighting the sharp spike in demand for high-risk items during festive celebrations, the food safety regulator has issued strict mandates targeting sweets, milk products, ghee, edible oils, and savouries.

The regulatory authority has directed enforcement officers to treat these surveillance measures with maximum priority to safeguard public health. State food safety departments have been instructed to conduct rigorous market surveillance, collect random samples, and enforce immediate action against vendors failing to meet compliance standards.

Targeted Crackdown on Sweets, Dairy, and Edible Oils

Every year, the festive period sees an unprecedented rise in the consumption of traditional sweets, khoya (dried whole milk), paneer, ghee, and cooking oils. FSSAI noted that this sharp demand creates opportunities for unscrupulous traders to introduce counterfeit, contaminated, or sub-standard products into the market.

Under the latest directive, state enforcement units are tasked with carrying out frequent random raids on manufacturing units, sweet shops, wholesale suppliers, and retail hubs. Specialized emphasis is being placed on checking for chemical adulterants in milk products and synthetic dyes in brightly colored confectioneries.

Real-Time Digital Tracking and Mobile Testing Units

To ensure total transparency and swift action, the FSSAI has mandated that all inspection and sampling data must be logged on its digital portals—FoSCoS (Food Safety Compliance System) and FoSCoRIS (Food Safety Compliance through Regular Inspection and Sampling)—in real-time. This ensures that test results are monitored immediately by central authorities.

Additionally, state food departments are deploying 'Food Safety on Wheels'—mobile testing laboratories equipped with rapid testing kits—to public markets and high-density festive bazaars. These mobile units allow consumers and officers to conduct on-the-spot testing for adulteration in milk, oil, and spices within minutes, ensuring immediate confiscation of compromised food batches.

The FSSAI has urged citizens to buy sweet treats and dairy items only from FSSAI-registered vendors and to report suspicious food quality issues directly through the national food safety portal.