The Food Safety & Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) has categorized food licenses as per business requirements. An FSSAI license category is based on the nature of a business, its turnover, or its production.

• Basic Registration
• State License
• Central License

In this article, we have tried to cover all the eligibility criteria for the FSSAI Central license. However, there are many other aspects that describe the required license type.

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Any food business being conducted without the proper food license is considered to be illegal as per FSSAI regulations. Such food business can be levied with a heavy penalty of up to Rs. 500,000 or 6 months imprisonment or both. FSSAI has formed different teams to ensure that all operators are working as per the FSSAI guidelines and not violating any laws. With such excessive visits and quality checks of food and premises by the government, all food business operators are now more alert and conscious to get the appropriate license for their business.

FSSAI Central License:-

Central licenses are required by fobs as per their volume handling and annual turnover. Below are some broader sub-categories of Central License.

1. Manufacturer
2. Other Businesses
3. Importers
4. Premises in Central Govt
5. Premises in Air / Seaport

The Central License is considered to be the utmost FSSAI license. A food business that falls under Central License are:

Manufacturer

• Meat Processing Units

All meat processing units having a capacity of more than 500 kg of meat per day or 150 MT per annum need to mandatorily apply for an FSSAI Central license

• All food processing units including re-labellers & re-packers

All food processing units having a capacity of more than 2 MT/day except grains, cereals, and pulses milling units need to mandatorily apply for an FSSAI Central license

• Proprietary foods

All proprietary food businesses need to mandatorily apply for an FSSAI Central license

• 100% Export oriented Units

All 100% export-oriented units need to mandatorily apply for an FSSAI Central license

• Slaughtering Units

All Slaughtering units handling below volume need to mandatorily apply for an FSSAI Central license.

1. Large animals (more than 50) per day
2. Small animals (150 or more) per day
3. Poultry birds (1000 or more) per day

• Vegetable Oil Processing units and units producing vegetable oil by the process of solvent extraction and refineries including oil expeller units

All Vegetable oil processing units handling a volume of more than 2 MT per day need to mandatorily apply for an FSSAI Central license.

• Dairy units including milk chilling units equipped to handle or process

All Dairy units including milk chilling units handling a volume of more than 50,000 liters of liquid milk/day or 2500 MT of milk per annum must apply for an FSSAI Central license.

Other Businesses

• Storage (Cold / Refrigerated)

All storage (cold/refrigerated) FOBs handling a Capacity of more than 10,000 MT must apply for FSSAI Central License.

• Storage (Controlled Atmosphere + cold)

All storage (controlled atmosphere + cold) FOBs handling a capacity of more than 1,000 MT must apply for FSSAI Central License.

• Storage (except controlled atmosphere and cold)

Storage (except controlled atmosphere and cold) FOB’s units handling Capacity of more than 50,000 MT must require an FSSAI license.

• Wholesalers

Wholesalers' turnover is usually on the high side because of their frequent deliveries to retailers and suppliers. Hence, FSSAI kept them in a separate category and their turnover slab has been increased to Rs. 30 Crores annually to apply for Central License. Supporting documents like Self-declaration of turnover or account statement would be required for filling online application.

• Retailers

Retailers with turnover greater than 20 crores must require an FSSAI Central license. Supporting documents like Self-declaration of turnover or account statement would be required for filling online application

• Distributor

Distributors with turnover greater than 20 crores must require an FSSAI Central license. Supporting documents like Self-declaration of turnover or account statement would be required for filling online application

• Supplier

Suppliers with turnover greater than 20 crores must require an FSSAI Central license. Supporting documents like Self-declaration of turnover or account statement would be required for filling an online application

• Food vending business operator operating in more than one state with 100 and above machines

Food vending business operators operating in more than one state with 100 and above machines must require to have a Central License.

• Caterer

A caterer with a turnover greater than 20 crores must require an FSSAI Central license. Supporting documents like Self-declaration of turnover or account statement would be required for filling an online application

• Hotels with a rating of 5 Star and Above

All hotels with a rating of 5 stars and above are required to get an FSSAI Central License. Supporting documents are

1. Scan a copy of the Certificate issued by the Ministry of Tourism.
2. Scan a copy of the certificate issued by the Hotel & Restaurant Approval and classification committee (HRACC) about the classification of a Star rating.

• Restaurant

Restaurants with turnover greater than 20 crores must require an FSSAI Central license. Supporting documents like Self-declaration of turnover or account statement would be required for filling an online application

• Transporters with more than 100 vehicles/ Wagon

All transporters having more than 100 vehicles/wagons or turnover greater than 30 crores and all vehicles directly involved in transporting the food products are compulsorily required to possess an FSSAI Central License.  Proof of annual turnover or self-declaration for a number of vehicles operating is compulsory. A scanned copy of the RC of all the vehicles is required during application filing. Only registered vehicles would be permitted to operate under that license number.

• Marketer

Marketers with turnover greater than 20 crores must require an FSSAI Central license. Supporting documents like Self-declaration of turnover or account statement would be required for filling online application

Premises in Central Govt

Food catering services units under central government agencies like defence etc.

All food catering services in the Defense area are mandatorily required to obtain an FSSAI central license.

• Storage, Wholesaler, Retailer, Distributor

All storage, wholesaler, retailer, and distributors operating in the Premises of central government agencies must require an FSSAI Central license.

Premises in Air / Seaport

• Food catering business units operating under central government agencies like airports, Seaport and in Air, etc.

All food catering operator operates at seaport located in Mumbai, Chennai, Kandla, Tuticorin, Vishakhapatnam, Kolkata, Marmagoa, Cochin, JNPT or Airport located at Trivandrum, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Cochin, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Trichy, Amritsar must require an FSSAI Central license

• Storage, Wholesaler, Retailer, Distributor

Food operator Premises at seaport located at Mumbai, Chennai, Tuticorin, Kandla, Vishakhapatnam, Kolkata, Marmagoa Cochin, JNPT or Airport Located at Cochin, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Tiruchy, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Amritsar, Trivandrum, Ahmedabad must require an FSSAI Central license

Importers

All Importers importing food items including food ingredients and additives for commercial use are required to obtain an FSSAI Central license. A copy of the IE code (issued by DGFT) certificate is required while filing the application under this business

FSSAI Central License Fee

The fee for obtaining a Central License is Rs. 7500 per year and a food business operator can apply for a maximum of 5 years for a Central license. Central licenses are allotted to FBOs based on a verification report issued by the food inspector after the physical verification of the food operator premises.

To get an FSSAI Central/State/Basic License or get more information on the type of food licenses Click Here