FSSAI directs States to ramp up surveillance during festival season
It directed State food safety commissioners to “conduct special surveillance drives during the festive period. “ These drives may be focused particularly on identified hotspots and sensitive locations under your jurisdiction
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MOORTHY M
In a bid to safeguard public health, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has directed States to ramp up surveillance on milk and milk-based products among others that see higher demand during the festival season. It has asked food safety officers to mandatorily submit data of inspection, sampling and the outcome of this special surveillance drive by November 15.
“With the onset of the festive season, the demand for sweets, savouries and milk & milk products (such as ghee, khoa, paneer, etc.) witnesses a significant surge across the country. This seasonal rise often creates economic incentives for adulteration- posing serious risks to public health and undermining consumer confidence,” FSSAI stated in a recently released order.
It directed State food safety commissioners to “ conduct special surveillance drives during the festive period. “These drives may be focused particularly on identified hotspots and sensitive locations under your jurisdiction. Further, it must also be ensured that, Food Safety on Wheels (FSWs), wherever available, may be strategically deployed in prominent marketplaces based on specific intelligence inputs to facilitate on-the-spot testing, strengthen vigilance, create awareness and to boost consumer trust,” the Food Authority stated.
Spice surveillance
This comes close on the heels of the FSSAI directing States to conduct a nationwide surveillance during the month of October at spice manufacturing units. States have been asked to test samples of whole and powdered spices on quality parameters including contaminants, microbial count and labelling requirements. It has identified 13 spices for this pan-India testing and sampling exercise which includes black pepper, cardamom, chilli, cinnamon, coriander, cumin and turmeric both in the whole and powdered format.
“The Commissioners of Food Safety of States/UTs and the Regional Directors of FSSAI are requested to conduct the enforcement drive for spices for checking compliance with the prescribed parameters including labelling requirements in respective jurisdiction. The inspection and sampling of aforesaid spices must be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the FSS Act, Rules, and Regulations…..it may also be ensured that, the enforcement drive shall be limited to manufacturing units only, in order to check the compliance at the source,” it added.
States need to submit data on the spice surveillance drive by November 20 to the FSSAI.
Published on October 2, 2025
