The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued draft regulations to further amend the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging) Regulations, 2018. The principal regulations were notified on December 24, 2018 and were last amended on March 28, 2025. The present draft has been published for inviting objections or suggestions within sixty days from the date the Gazette copies are made available to the public.

In Regulation 2 (Definitions), in sub-regulation (1), after clause (i), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely:

• “food contact material” means any material, including active and intelligent materials, article and product intended to come into contact with food and should not have any undesirable effect on the food and health;
• “food grade contact material” means any material(s) that are used for manufacturing, processing, handling (including kitchenware, tableware, etc.), packaging, storage and transportation of food contact material should have demonstrated their compliance with specific safety standards under prescribed conditions and shall not endanger human and animal health and result in an unacceptable change in the composition and characteristics of food during its intended use;
• “modified atmosphere packaging” means enclosure of food in a package in which the atmosphere inside the package is modified or altered to provide an optimum atmosphere for increasing shelf life and maintaining food quality;
• “food packaging” means package to be used for the containment, protection, handling, delivery, and storage, transport and presentation of food, from raw materials to processed food, from the producer to the user or consumer, including processor, assembler or other intermediary;
• “non-intentionally added substances (NIAS)” means non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) are chemicals that are present in a food contact material (FCM) or food contact article (FCA) but have not been added for a technical reason during the production process;
• “aseptic packaging” means process where a sterilized product is filled into a sterilized container and sealed in a sterile environment to prevent contamination.”