FSSAI makes registration to all milk vendors in India

The recent advisory issued by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India mandating registration of milk vendors is a timely and progressive step towards strengthening traceability and accountability in India’s milk distribution ecosystem.

For a long time, a significant portion of milk in India has been sold in loose or unbranded form through informal channels. While this system has traditionally played an important role in meeting local demand, the absence of even a basic registration framework made regulatory oversight extremely difficult. Bringing milk vendors into the formal system will provide them with a recognised identity while enabling authorities to build a structured surveillance and food safety ecosystem.

Personally, this development is particularly satisfying because I have been advocating for such a policy intervention for several years. During the tenure of Sh Pawan Agarwal ji at FSSAI as CEO, we had the opportunity to work closely on capacity-building initiatives for this segment. One such program was organised in Amritsar, where milk vendors were trained on basic hygiene, safe handling practices, and the importance of entering the formal regulatory framework.

My consistent suggestion to FSSAI has been that every milk seller—including loose milk vendors—should have a simple, mandatory registration, irrespective of turnover. This should ideally be supported through low-cost digital registration systems and linked with basic food safety training conducted by state food safety authorities. Such an approach allows the informal sector to gradually come under regulatory oversight without creating barriers for small operators.

I sincerely thank FSSAI for taking this important step. The move will not only strengthen consumer confidence in milk safety but also give thousands of small milk vendors across the country a formal identity within the food safety ecosystem. In the long run, this will help build a more transparent and accountable dairy supply chain in India.