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Revised contaminant norms strengthen food safety standards
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Wednesday, 15 July, 2026, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Anurag More, Mumbai
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The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) notification on the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Amendment Regulations, 2026, amendments represent an important step towards strengthening food safety standards, opine some of the experts.
Commenting on the development, Yatish Talvadia, Founder and Chief Experience Officer at Anmasa, said the amendments represent an important step towards strengthening food safety standards and consumer confidence. He said extending contaminant limits to pulse flours and introducing enhanced testing protocols for edible oils reflect the need for food safety regulations to evolve with changing consumption patterns.
According to him, the transition period until December 1, 2026, gives businesses sufficient time to strengthen testing infrastructure, improve supply chain processes and enhance quality assurance and traceability systems.
Sonam Chandwani, Managing Partner at KS Legal & Associates, said the amendments indicate a shift towards a more preventive and science-based food safety framework. She noted that by extending contaminant limits to processed products and tightening standards for arsenic in edible fats and oils, FSSAI has addressed food safety risks across the processing and distribution chain.
Chandwani added that food businesses would need to strengthen supplier due diligence, laboratory testing, traceability and internal quality control systems to ensure compliance with the revised standards. She said companies should use the transition period to review supplier agreements, reassess testing protocols and address operational gaps ahead of the regulations coming into force.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has notified the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Amendment Regulations, 2026, introducing revised limits for heavy metals, crop contaminants and veterinary drug residues across several commonly consumed food products. The new regulations will come into effect on December 1, 2026. Under the amendments, FSSAI has extended the prescribed limits for lead and cadmium, which were previously applicable only to raw pulses, to include pulse flours.
The regulator has also introduced specific testing requirements for inorganic arsenic in edible fats and oils. For fish oils, the maximum permissible limit for inorganic arsenic has been set at 0.1 mg/kg. Samples with total arsenic levels below the prescribed limit will be treated as compliant, while those exceeding the threshold will undergo additional testing to determine inorganic arsenic content.
The amendments also revise standards for crop contaminants by updating the permissible limits for Total Aflatoxins and Aflatoxin B1 in edible oils, ready-to-eat oilseeds and oilseeds intended for further processing. In addition, FSSAI has fixed the maximum limit for saffrole at 10 mg/kg in foods and beverages containing mace or nutmeg kernels.
In the aquaculture sector, the authority has prescribed maximum residue limits for veterinary drugs in seafood products. The permissible limit has been set at 0.05 mg/kg for Trimethoprim and 0.3 mg/kg for Oxolinic acid in shrimps, prawns and various fish species.
The notification follows a draft amendment issued in September 2024, which was opened for public consultation for 60 days. After considering stakeholder feedback, FSSAI has finalised the amendments to the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations, 2011.
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