Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) published a draft of the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Amendment Regulations, 2024 on September 18, 2024, in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part III, Section 4. The copies of the said Gazette were made available to the public on September 25, 2024. No objections or suggestions were received from the public within the sixty-day period. The Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Amendment Regulations, 2026 have accordingly been finalised with the prior approval of the Central Government.

The following amendments have been made to the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations, 2011. Under Regulation 2.1.1, Clause 2, in the Metal Contaminants table: against Serial No. 1 relating to Lead, the food category in Column (2) is amended from “Pulses” to “Pulses and Pulse flours”; against Serial No. 3 relating to Arsenic, the entry in Column (2) is amended from “Edible fats and oils (edible fats and oils not covered by individual standards)” to “Edible fats and oils (edible fats and oils not covered by individual standards)*”, with the following note inserted after the table:

“*Note.- For fish oils, the Maximum level (ML) of inorganic arsenic (As-in) that is 0.1 mg/kg will be applicable. While testing, if the total arsenic concentration is below the ML for inorganic arsenic, no further testing is required, and the sample is determined to be compliant with the ML. If the total arsenic concentration is above the ML for inorganic arsenic, follow-up testing shall be done to determine if the inorganic arsenic concentration is above the ML.”

Against Serial No. 5 relating to Cadmium, the food category in Column (2) is amended from “Pulses, excluding soybean dry” to “Pulses and Pulse flours, excluding soybean dry.” Under Regulation 2.2.1, Clause 1, in the table: against Serial No. 1 relating to Total Aflatoxins and Serial No. 2 relating to Aflatoxin B1, the entry in Column (3) is amended from “Oilseeds or oil: Oilseeds for further processing Ready to eat” to:

“Oils, and Oilseeds for further processing Ready to eat oilseeds”

Under Regulation 2.2.1, Clause 2, Serial No. 4 relating to Saffrole and its entries are substituted with the following:

“4 — Saffrole — Beverages and foods containing mace and/or nutmeg kernel as an ingredient — 10”

Under Regulation 2.3, Sub-regulation 2.3.2: Clause (1) is omitted. In Clause (4), in the Pesticide Residues table: against Serial No. 45 relating to Trimethoprim, the following entries are inserted in Columns (3) and (4) after the existing entries:

“Sea foods including shrimps, prawns or any other variety of fish and fishery products — 0.05”

After Serial No. 49 and its entries, the following new serial number and entries are inserted:

“50 — Oxolinic acid — Sea foods including shrimps, prawns or any other variety of fish and fishery products — 0.3”