The 2026 changes in date order
| Date | Instrument | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| 17.12.2025 | FSSAI order RCD-15001/19/2025 | BIS certification mark no longer required for packaged drinking and mineral water from 01.01.2026 |
| 10.03.2026 | FSS (Licensing and Registration) Amendment Regulations 2026 | Perpetual validity, deemed suspension, instant registration, risk-based inspection |
| 13.03.2026 | FSSAI order on the kind-of-business table | New turnover limits and flat fees, in force 01.04.2026 |
| 18.03.2026 | FSSAI order on FoSCoS recall | Recalls to be created and recorded on FoSCoS |
| 24.03.2026 | Labelling and Display amendment | The fifth amendment to the 2020 labelling regulations |
| 27.03.2026 | FSSAI order and FAQ | Confirms food businesses are "not required to renew" |
| 23.06.2026 | Second Licensing Amendment 2026 | Daily production records and FIFO/FEFO confined to manufacturers |
Licences no longer expire
Regulation 2.1.7 was substituted in full. A licence or registration now stays valid and subsisting unless it is suspended, cancelled or surrendered. There is no renewal, no renewal fee and no ₹100-a-day renewal late fee. That late fee was tied to a renewal application that no longer exists.
Two duties came with it. If you close, you must tell the authority in writing within 30 days and surrender the certificate (2.1.7(3)). No fee is refunded (2.1.7(4)).
The amendment has no transitional clause for licences that had already expired before 10 March 2026. If yours lapsed before then, get advice before you trade. See licence revival and our renewal guide for 2026.
The catch: deemed suspension
Under the new 2.1.7(2), a licence is deemed suspended if you fail to pay the annual fee "as specified by the Food Authority" or fail to file a required return by its due date. No notice is issued. You may not trade until it's put right, and overdue fees come "plus applicable penalties". No penalty amount has been published.
FSSAI hasn't said when the annual fee falls due. We count from the anniversary of grant, and we say so. The returns that matter most are Form D-1 for licensed manufacturers and importers, due 31 May (see the D-1 guide). A certificate on the wall can look perfect while the licence is suspended. Our licence health check takes seven questions.
The new turnover limits from 1 April 2026
| Tier | New limit | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Registration | Up to ₹1.5 crore | ₹100 a year |
| State Licence | ₹1.5 crore to ₹50 crore | ₹5,000 a year |
| Central Licence | Above ₹50 crore | ₹7,500 a year |
The old ₹12 lakh Registration ceiling and the production-capacity bands are gone. The amendment lets FSSAI set thresholds by order (2.1.1(8) and 2.1.2(6)), which is why the table changed without a new Schedule. One wrinkle: Schedule 1 still carries old capacity triggers, and we found no notification amending it. A large-capacity unit under ₹50 crore should confirm its tier with the licensing authority.
Also new: instant registration where the application is complete (2.1.1(4)), street vendors registered under the 2014 Act deemed registered (2.1.1(7)), and a petty-business definition that expressly excludes caterers. See licence types.
Inspections, audits and records
- Risk-based inspection. New regulation 2.1.17 says how often you're inspected will depend on your type of business, past compliance, third-party audit results and the risk of the food you handle.
- Directed audits. Under 2.1.17(5), the Commissioner or the Authority can direct you to get a third-party audit at your own cost.
- Records. The second amendment of 23 June 2026 confined daily production and raw-material records (licence condition 8) to manufacturers, and took retailers out of FIFO/FEFO stock rotation (Schedule 4 Part II, 5.2.5).
Packaged water and packaging
Packaged drinking water and mineral water no longer need the BIS certification mark from 1 January 2026, under FSSAI's order of 17 December 2025. Packaged water is still a high-risk category, so a Central-licensed manufacturer still needs the annual third-party audit.
On labels, the fifth amendment to the Labelling and Display Regulations came on 24 March 2026. Check any reprint against the current text. Our label review does that for you.
What didn't change
- You still need a licence or registration to trade (FSS Act s.31). Trading without one carries up to six months' imprisonment and a fine up to ₹5 lakh (s.63).
- Form D-1 is still due by 31 May, with ₹100 a day for delay.
- Licensed businesses still test products at least once every six months at an FSSAI-notified or NABL lab (licence condition 12).
- One FoSTaC-trained supervisor per 25 food handlers, yearly medicals, the display board and the labelling elements under regulation 5.
- One licence per premises, covering only the kinds of business written on it.