India’s food safety watchdog is increasingly relying on digital tools and enforcement to protect consumers, with fresh data showing thousands of cases filed and penalties running into crores.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) operates a dedicated online consumer grievance portal on FoSCoS, allowing consumers to directly report food safety-related complaints. Once a complaint is registered, the system generates a unique ticket number and sends it to the consumer via SMS for tracking.
Under the mechanism, complaints are first forwarded to the concerned Food Business Operator (FBO) for a response. If the consumer is not satisfied or the FBO fails to respond, the grievance is automatically escalated to the relevant State or Central Food Authority for further regulatory action.
The enforcement data for financial year 2024–25 highlights the scale of regulatory action taken under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. During the year, authorities launched 12,057 legal cases across the country. This included 11,358 civil cases dealt with through adjudication and 699 criminal cases taken up for prosecution.
Of these, courts decided 8,636 civil cases, resulting in monetary penalties, while 179 criminal cases ended in convictions.
Penalties imposed during the year amounted to Rs 36.43 crore in civil cases and Rs 28.23 lakh in criminal cases. These figures also include outcomes of cases instituted in earlier years but concluded during 2024–25.
The data underlines FSSAI’s twin approach of technology-led grievance redressal and stricter legal enforcement, aimed at improving compliance among food businesses and strengthening consumer protection across the country.
