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India has food safety laws. So why can't it guarantee safe food?

2 days agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on Google

Nikita YadavDelhi

NurPhoto via Getty Images

Many Indian households powder spices at home instead of buying them from shops

Inside her kitchen in the Indian capital, Delhi, 55-year-old Nirmal Rao lays out a tray of boiled turmeric to dry in the afternoon sun.

On the counter beside it, she slowly tips yesterday's dried batch into a mixer, grinding it into a fine golden powder.

Until recently, Rao had never imagined she would spend her evening grinding spices at home.

"We shouldn't have to do this," she said, scooping the bright yellow powder into a jar. "But you cannot trust what's being sold in the markets anymore."

Rao is not alone. Across Indian cities, some middle-class families are quietly turning their kitchens into miniature food-processing units - grinding spices by hand, making paneer (Indian cottage cheese) at home, buying grain directly from farms. The shift is driven less by nostalgia than by distrust.

Government data shows that between 2022 and 2025, roughly one in six food samples tested by authorities failed to meet food safety standards. During the same period, more than 1,100 licences of food businesses were cancelled.

Experts say these failed cases can be due to anything from poor hygiene and labelling violations to cases involving contamination or adulteration.

Last month, food safety officials in Hyderabad seized more than 3,000kg of adulterated tea powder in which synthetic colours, jaggery juice and expired tea were mixed to boost appearance and profits, The Indian Express reported.

Food adulteration is not new in India. But a regulatory system that struggles to keep pace with a vast informal food economy, and social media that spreads food safety scares faster than authorities can respond, have combined to produce a growing crisis of trust.

A few decades ago, food adulteration meant diluted milk or pebbles in grain. Today, raids turn up milk spiked with detergent and spices laced with synthetic dyes.

AFP via Getty Images

There are millions of small unregulated eateries in India

India does have rules to prevent this. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), created under a 2006 law, regulates how food is made, stored, transported and sold, replacing a patchwork of older laws.

Under the rules, everything from large food companies to small eateries must be licensed, while food safety officers are tasked with inspections, sample collection and investigating complaints.

"It is among the most modern food safety laws in the world," says Pawan Agarwal, former FSSAI chief. "It sets clear standards for how food should and should not be sold."

But in practice, much of it kicks in only after something goes wrong.

"Bigger companies are expected to test products before they go to market - but most of the food economy does not work that way," Agarwal said.

"Food products are often tested only after complaints emerge or suspicions are raised."

By then, adulterated goods may already have moved across cities or states.

He also points to the challenge posed by loose food products - such as oil, flour and spices sold without proper branding or packaging, often in small quantities.

Across India, countless small vendors, unregistered shops and informal factories sell, repackage and distribute such goods with little paperwork, making it nearly impossible to trace where unsafe products originated or ended up, experts say.

Meanwhile, the food testing system has a structural flaw too, says Saurabh Arora, managing director of food testing lab Auriga Research.

"Businesses are required to send samples only once every six or 12 months. But even that limited testing window is routinely gamed," he adds.

"They often make sure the tested batch meets standards - even if others may...