Regulatory library

You need a written cleaning schedule -- what gets cleaned, how often, and how -- with records kept.

Staff should not wear outdoor/street shoes while preparing food.

Fruits and vegetables that will be served raw or ready-to-eat need a chlorinated-water wash (50 ppm) before cutting or serving, not just a plain water rinse.

Use separate chopping boards/knives for raw and ready-to-eat food, and store raw meat/poultry below ready-to-eat items in the fridge.

Food on a display counter (bakery cases, buffet, retail chiller) needs to stay within the same safe temperature bands as food in storage or on the stove.

Gravy-based dishes left out at room temperature (e.g. on a buffet or counter) need to move to proper hot-holding or refrigeration within 2 hours.

Any kitchen doing cooking or frying needs a properly sized chimney/exhaust installed before opening -- not an optional extra.

Washing vegetables/raw ingredients in the same sink used to clean pots and equipment risks cross-contamination -- keep them separate where the kitchen layout allows.

Food needs to reach a minimum core (internal) temperature during cooking -- higher and shorter for non-veg than veg -- not just look cooked on the outside.

Frozen meat, fish and poultry should be thawed in the fridge at 5C or in a microwave; shellfish/seafood in potable running water at 15C or below within 90 minutes. Once thawed, food must be used within 12 hours and never re-frozen.

Reheated food needs to reach 75C at the core for at least 2 minutes, using a proper heat source -- never a steam table, bain-marie, bun drawer, or heat lamp, none of which reheat food safely from cold.

Cooking oil shouldn't be reused more than 3 times (reuse builds up trans fats) -- and only packaged oil should be used, avoiding high-trans-fat oils like vanaspati.

Once a gravy or dish is cooked, don't thin it out with added water afterward -- a food-safety rule, not just a quality one.

Leftover food should never be mixed into a fresh batch -- if there's any doubt about a food's safety, the rule is to discard it.

Raw meat, poultry and seafood need to be stored and cold-stored separately from cooked or ready-to-eat food. In the fridge specifically: veg above non-veg, and cooked food above uncooked, on separate racks.

Food should be stored on racks or shelves, off the floor and away from the wall -- not stacked directly on the ground.

Raw materials need to be bought only from other FSSAI-licensed or registered suppliers, with records kept of who they were bought from.

Ingredients and finished goods need to be used in the order they arrived (or expire) -- oldest first -- not just grabbed from wherever is convenient.

Your FSSAI licence or registration certificate needs to be displayed somewhere customers and inspectors can clearly see it.

Restaurants specifically need to display an official Food Safety Display Board -- a separate, more detailed requirement than just displaying the licence certificate.

Separate from the customer-facing Food Safety Display Board, staff need their own internal do's-and-don'ts board posted somewhere prominent in the work area.

Handwashing stations need soap, hot and cold running water, and hygienic hand-drying -- plus clean towels for customer use where relevant.

Food handlers need to be equipped with suitable aprons, gloves and headgear, wherever necessary.

Catering/food-service premises need adequate hand-wash basins with soap, hot and cold water, and clean towels -- including for customer use where relevant.

Beyond wearing the right protective gear, food handlers need to actually maintain personal cleanliness day to day -- trimmed nails, covered cuts, no loose jewellery, no smoking or spitting near food.

Staff who handle food shouldn't also be the ones handling cash -- or should wash/sanitise hands between the two -- to avoid cross-contamination.

Anyone visiting your food-prep area (contractors, inspectors, suppliers) should wear the same basic protective gear staff do, not walk through untouched.

You need an active pest-control programme, and records of what was used and when.

Water used in food prep or contact with food must meet the IS:10500 drinking-water standard and be tested at least twice a year, with records kept.

If ice or steam touches food directly, it needs to be made from potable water and handled so it doesn't get contaminated -- not just the water you cook with.

If you sell savouries, sweets or similar items, you need a notice board listing separately which items were cooked in ghee vs. edible oil vs. vanaspati/other fats.

If you sell any pre-packaged item (bottled sauce, packaged bakery goods, retail products), the label needs your FSSAI logo and licence number in the correct format -- not just on your premises display.

Every packaged food item needs the correct green (veg) or brown (non-veg) dot-in-a-square symbol, sized correctly for the package -- this is a precise, regulated symbol, not just any indicator.

Packaged food containing any of 8 major allergen categories (gluten, shellfish, milk, egg, fish, nuts, soy, sulphites) needs a "Contains..." declaration on the label.

Your menu (card, board, or booklet) needs allergen info and the veg/non-veg logo next to each item -- unless you're a short-season caterer or the item is a free condiment or a custom special order.

This only applies if you hold a Central FSSAI licence or run 10+ outlets -- if so, your menu needs calorie counts per serving plus the standard "2,000 kcal/day" reference line.

You need some way for customers to raise a food-safety complaint, and for it to actually get handled.

Food handlers need an annual medical fitness exam AND compulsory inoculation against the enteric group of diseases (e.g. typhoid) per the recommended vaccine schedule, with both kept on record.

Records need to be retained for at least a year, or the shelf-life of the product if longer -- the FoSCoS checklist flags this as one of the items that can fail a whole inspection on its own.

Beyond just having potable water, you need to periodically clean water storage tanks and keep a written record of when it was done.

Cold/ready-to-eat food should be kept at 5C or below. The checklist flags this as one of the items that can fail a whole inspection on its own.

High-risk food should be received either cold (5C or below) or hot (60C or above) -- not lukewarm. Frozen food should be received at -18C or below.

Hot food intended for consumption should be held at 65C or above (the FoSCoS checklist figure -- stricter than Schedule 4 Part V's "at least 60C"). The checklist flags this as one of the items that can fail a whole inspection on its own.

Hot food that needs to be cooled for storage has to pass through two specific windows -- 60C to 21C within 2 hours, then down to 5C within another 2 hours -- not just "put it in the fridge eventually".

Food handlers need to be trained in food hygiene and safety appropriate to their role.

Restaurants need at least one staff member who is a trained Food Safety Supervisor (FSSAI-trained), not just general food-handler training for everyone.

If you deliver or transport food (catering, cloud kitchen, delivery), it needs to stay at the same safe temperatures in transit as it would in the kitchen -- or be transported within 2 hours of being prepared.

Food waste needs a covered bin, emptied and cleaned daily.