Food products have been certified to be used for human consumption only if it is certified as per quality standards. There are various acts and licenses that protect food products and make them free from adulteration. Food Safety and Standards Act is one of them which provides an FSSAI License to the FBOs before commencing their business
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The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is an independent regulatory body that was established in 2006 to centralize food-related activities in India. It confers an FSSAI License under the terms and conditions of the FSSAI Act.
An FSSAI license is required for any food business operator (FBO) to perform quality assurance on pursuits such as food product manufacturing, storage, transportation, and distribution.
What if your FSSAI application is initially rejected? Dive deeper into this article, and we’ll explain what you should do if your FSSAI application is rejected.
Types of FSSAI Registration
The FSSAI certificate is categorized depending on the company’s annual revenue:
1. FSSAI Basic License: Businesses with less than a 12 lakh turnover must obtain an FSSAI basic license. Furthermore, once the turnover exceeds 12 lakh, they will require an upgrade of the State FSSAI License. However, because it is specified that businesses with a turnover of less than 12 lakh require a basic license, it is generally chosen by smaller firms or startups.
2. FSSAI State License: Businesses with a turnover of more than 12 lakh to 20 crores are required to obtain an FSSAI state license. This state license is widely chosen by small- to medium-sized businesses, retailers, restaurant marketers, storage units, distributors, and so on.
3. FSSAI Central License: Firms with a revenue of more than 20 crores must obtain an FSSAI central license. This central license is required for importers, manufacturers, federal government operators, airports, seaports, and railways, among others.
The cost of obtaining a basic, state, or central license varies and is determined by several circumstances. The license’s tenure ranges from one to five years after which you need an FSSAI license renewal.
Setindiabiz’s consultant team will assist you in obtaining the license, submitting documents, providing quality service, and following up by working directly with FSSAI officials or FSSAI compliance. If you have any queries, please contact our team.
Also Read: 9 Steps to Get FSSAI Registration Certificate For Your Business
SOPs ‘Standard Operating procedure’ released by FSSAI
It should be emphasized that simply applying for a food license does not guarantee that one will be issued. However, some examples have been documented in which the application was rejected for a variety of reasons.
FSSAI on 7 July 2022, released SOPs for the rejected applications’ reactivation process.
SOPs are only applicable in the following rejection scenarios:
- FBO inadvertently rejected the application during processing.
- If the cause of rejection is due to a technical error while being processed by a DO or FBO.
- Due to a lack of information or papers, the system automatically rejected the application.
What to do if your FSSAI Application gets rejected?
The following are the processes for reviving your rejected FSSAI application for all basic, state, and central levels.
Revival of rejected application for Basic and State FSSAI License:
- Applicants must file a reactivation request with the State Food Safety Commissioner within three months of rejection.
- After filing the reactivation request, a designated officer will review the case for merit.
- Within 30 days of receiving a request from a food operator, an email should be sent to the RC Division outlining the applicant’s findings.
- The Designated Officers indicated the proposal will need to be forwarded to the IT division for the application reactivation process.
- The IT division will evaluate the application that appears to be relevant and then reactivate it. They will also contact the DO/CFS under RCD’s supervision and share information about the reactivation.
Revival of rejected application for Central License:
- Applicants must apply to their FSSAI Regional Office within 6 months of the date of rejection.
- Considering the request, the director of the RO will examine the case for the verification process.
- After examining the request within 30 days, the regional office’s director will forward the recommendation to the RCD (Regional Compliance Division) at enforcement1@fssai.gov.in.
- The RCD will then investigate the case based on the RO’s recommendation.
- Based on the recommendation, the role of the Executive Director of the RCD would be to act as the final arbiter in such circumstances.
- After the case has been approved by RCD, it will be referred to the IT Division.
- In extreme instances, an FBO might go to the FSSAI headquarters and be evaluated by the CEO.
Conclusion
For years, FBOs have been hampered by the resurgence of rejected applications, and this core problem has perplexed businesses for years. The introduction of FosCos’ “Food Safety Compliance System” allows applicants to easily respond to their rejected applications without having to go through a convoluted process.The FosCos allows the applicant to make a rapid request without having to deal with cumbersome regulations and can anticipate a prompt reply from the authorities.
