FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India)

FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) was established under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 as the apex food regulatory body, headquartered in New Delhi. While FSSAI regulates food businesses directly, it also sets material standards for food-contact packaging — the plastics, inks, and coatings that touch food. For recyclers, the two most critical FSSAI instruments are: the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging) Regulations 2018 and the Specific Migration Limits for substances migrating from packaging into food simulants (tested per IS/ISO methods). A recycled plastic article intended for food contact must demonstrate compliance with these migration limits before it can legally enter the food packaging supply chain.

The challenge for Indian recyclers is that FSSAI does not publish a positive list for recycled plastics the way the EU does (EU Regulation 2022/1616 for mechanically recycled PET). Instead, recyclers must demonstrate: (1) the input plastic was food-grade virgin or food-contact regrind; (2) the decontamination process (typically super-clean extrusion at 300°C+, vacuum devolatilisation, or solid-state polycondensation) reduces contamination to safe levels; (3) final product migration testing shows compliance with Regulation 10A limits (e.g. overall migration ≤60 mg/dm²). In practice, most mainstream Indian rPET pellet producers supplying food-grade customers obtain third-party migration testing at NABL-accredited labs (Rs 5,000–15,000 per test battery) and submit a technical dossier to their customer, who takes regulatory responsibility. Very few Indian recyclers hold a standalone FSSAI food-contact packaging clearance.

FSSAI also governs recyclate used in packaging for meat, fish, and dairy — stricter categories where recycled plastics are effectively excluded unless demonstrated food-grade. For CBG (compressed biogas) digestate producers who sell organic fertiliser, FSSAI is not directly applicable to the fertiliser but may be relevant if the digestate is used on crops destined for food. FSSAI registration (basic to state to central, depending on turnover and scale) is required for any entity handling food-contact materials commercially.

For Indian recyclers planning to sell into food packaging, the practical sequence is: (1) audit input stream to confirm food-grade source segregation; (2) validate decontamination process against published challenge testing protocols; (3) conduct migration testing at NABL lab with the relevant food simulants; (4) document the supply chain via FSSAI's approved supplier framework; (5) review compliance on each new customer contract. Entering the food-contact rPET or HDPE market without this documentation exposes the recycler to product liability and FSSAI enforcement action — fines up to Rs 2 lakh plus product seizure.