India’s food safety regulator is increasingly leaning on technology to decide where to inspect, how fast to clear imported consignments, and how quickly consumers can flag a problem. From licensing portals to import clearance systems, a cluster of digital platforms is now central to how the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) approaches compliance across the country’s hotels, restaurants and food manufacturers.
In an exclusive chat with CMR executive, Rajit Punhani, IAS, Chief Executive Officer of FSSAI, laid out how these tools fit together, why verification still matters even in a digital-first system, and where the regulator’s technology push is headed next.
FoSCoS at the Core
FoSCoS, the Food Safety Compliance System, remains the backbone of FSSAI’s digital infrastructure. The platform lets food business operators apply for licences and registrations, renew them, and manage regulatory requirements entirely online, removing much of the paperwork that once slowed down compliance. For an industry with lakhs of registered entities ranging from street vendors to large manufacturers, Rajit said, a single digital system for licensing has made it far easier to track who is registered and where gaps remain. It has also reduced the need for operators to visit regional offices in person for routine renewals, a change he described as significant for smaller businesses that previously found the process cumbersome.
A Direct Line for Consumer Complaints
Alongside FoSCoS, the Food Safety Connect app gives consumers a direct channel to report concerns about food quality, hygiene or mislabelling. Rajit described this as an important part of FSSAI’s shift towards a more participatory enforcement model, one where inspection triggers do not rely solely on internal surveillance but also on structured, verifiable input from the public. Complaints filed through the app, he clarified, are assessed and verified before any enforcement action follows, a safeguard against unverified or malicious reports triggering unwarranted action against a business.
Faster Clearance for Imported Food
On the trade side, the Food Import Clearance System (FICS) is designed to speed up clearance of imported food consignments at Indian ports and airports. With food imports rising alongside India’s growing hospitality and retail sectors, Rajit said a faster, digitally tracked clearance process reduces both delays for importers and the risk of unsafe products entering the supply chain unchecked.
Supporting all of this is INFOLNET, a network that facilitates the collection and sharing of food safety and laboratory data across FSSAI’s system. By pooling testing and laboratory information in one place, the regulator can spot patterns, such as recurring contamination issues linked to a particular region or product category, far more quickly than through manual reporting. This shared data layer, Rajit noted, also helps avoid duplication of testing efforts across different laboratories and States.
From Digital Records to Risk-Based Enforcement
What ties these platforms together, according to Rajit, is FSSAI’s broader shift towards risk-based enforcement. Rather than treating every food business the same way regardless of scale or track record, the regulator wants to use the data flowing through FoSCoS, Food Safety Connect, FICS and INFOLNET to identify which businesses, regions or product categories carry higher risk and direct inspection resources accordingly. Integrating information across these sources, he said, allows FSSAI to spot emerging risks faster and coordinate more effectively with State and Union Territory food safety departments, which carry out enforcement on the ground.
Traceability as the Next Frontier
Looking ahead, Rajit pointed to greater use of data analytics and digital traceability across the food supply chain as the next stage of this push. The goal, he said, is a system where a food product’s journey, from raw material sourcing to the plate, can be tracked digitally, making it easier to pinpoint the source of a safety lapse when one occurs. For compliant businesses, he added, better traceability also cuts both ways: it should make it easier to demonstrate compliance to regulators and to consumers, rather than compliance resting solely on being clear during a physical inspection.
For an industry that has traditionally viewed food safety compliance as a paperwork exercise ahead of a licence renewal, FSSAI’s digital push signals a shift towards continuous, data-driven oversight, one where technology, not just enforcement drives, increasingly determines who gets inspected and when.
