Why eateries in India do not have a food safety licence

According to the latest NRAI India Food Services Report 2019, of the 2.49 million food business operators (FBOs) in the country, only 467,000 have an FSSAI licence. This report included restaurants, eateries, dhabas and kiosks, among others. All thanks to the report, it has been found that only one out of five eating out places in India has a food safety licence. This report has raised a question on the functioning of food businesses and governing bodies.

According to a research, it has been found that the lengthy process of getting a licence and the must-haves to get the approval from the governing body, makes it tricky for the local and small eateries to attain licence and to avoid the chaos, they end up selling food without any.

According to FSSAI’s letter to commissioners of food safety of all states, Food and Drug Administration across states has been asked to issue licences to eateries within two months, if no inadequacy is found. FSSAI has also instructed that food businesses can start functioning even if registration is not granted.

It has been found that India’s food sector generates revenue worth about Rs 4.23 lakh crore every year but sadly, 65% of the industry is still unorganised. NRAI’s target is to drop these numbers to 57% by 2023. This step is taken to streamline public health and taxation system that is at risk because of the unorganised establishments.

The unorganized market has badly impacted more than two-thirds of India’s top restaurants and cafe chains with losses or lower profit during the last financial year due to the rollback of input tax credit (ITC) and hyper-local delivery services.

This step by FSSAI and FDA will not only improve the profit margin of the market players but will also smoothen the functioning of the food businesses and make the taxation system clearer.