How to reply to an FSSAI show-cause notice

Read it for three things first

1. The date. Everything else is secondary. The reply window is short and extensions are not guaranteed.
2. The allegation. What exactly is said to be wrong — a sample result, a label element, a hygiene finding, a licensing default? The reply answers that, not the general subject.
3. The provision. Which section or regulation is cited. A notice about misbranding (s.52) is a different conversation from one about unsafe food (s.59).

What the reply has to do

Four jobs, in this order: state the facts, evidence them, show what has been corrected, and address the section 49 factors — the gain made, the harm caused, and whether the conduct repeats — because those are what an adjudicating officer weighs.

Attach, don't assert: the lab report, the purchase invoice, the batch record, the artwork version, the training certificate, the corrected photograph. A reply with documents is a different document from a reply with adjectives.

The mistakes that make it worse

• Missing the date, then arguing about the merits.
• Denying something the officer has photographed.
• Volunteering unrelated problems the notice never raised.
• Sending a template letter that does not name the batch, the SKU or the premises.
• Continuing to trade on a licence that is suspended while the reply is pending.

What happens next

The authority may accept the reply and close the matter, ask for more, or refer it to an Adjudicating Officer. Adjudication is a hearing: both sides are heard, and only then is a penalty imposed. An appeal lies to the Food Safety Appellate Tribunal.

Penalties for adjudicated matters have ceilings in Chapter IX — ₹3 lakh for misbranded food under section 52, ₹10 lakh for a misleading claim under section 53 — and section 49 governs how far below the ceiling a particular case lands.