Starting a food unit in India

SNG Food Industry — Small-scale food | sngfoodindustry.com

You start by matching your annual turnover to one of three FSSAI authorisation tiers, then you design the process around your product's pH, water activity and temperature limits, and finally you print a label that carries the FSSAI logo and a 14-digit licence number. This page walks through those three decisions in order, with the numbers that inspectors check.

The governing numbers for a new food unit — licence slabs as of 2024-25; confirm current limits before applying.
Parameter	Limit or value
Basic Registration ceiling	up to ₹12 lakh per year
State Licence band	₹12 lakh to roughly ₹200 crore per year
Central Licence threshold	above roughly ₹200 crore per year
Licence validity	up to 5 years
HTST pasteurisation	72 °C for at least 15 seconds
LTLT pasteurisation	63 °C for 30 minutes
Boiling-water bath	100 °C, only at pH 4.6 or below
Pressure processing	116-121 °C

Terms used on this page

FSSAI: India's food safety authority. It authorises food businesses through registration or licences tiered by annual turnover.
HTST pasteurisation: High-temperature short-time pasteurisation: milk held at 72 °C for at least 15 seconds.
LTLT pasteurisation: Low-temperature long-time pasteurisation: the batch alternative, 63 °C held for 30 minutes.
Water activity (aw): A measure of the water available to microorganisms. Below 0.60 aw no microorganism grows, so dried foods are formulated to stay under it.
Critical control point: A step where control prevents or removes a hazard. Under HACCP each one carries a measurable critical limit.
Hot-fill: Filling at about 85-90 °C so the product's own heat sanitises the container and closure.

Which FSSAI licence does your turnover require?

One number decides it: annual turnover.

FSSAI authorisation is split into three tiers by turnover. Basic Registration covers units up to about ₹12 lakh a year; the State Licence runs from ₹12 lakh to roughly ₹200 crore; the Central Licence applies above that. These are the 2024-25 slabs — confirm the current limits before you quote them in an application.

Whichever tier you fall into, the registration or licence is issued for a period of up to 5 years and must be renewed before it expires. The expiry date, not the application date, is the one that matters later.

A tier-by-tier breakdown sits on the companion page FSSAI Registration, State Licence or Central Licence; the label and process pages cross-referenced below complete the setup picture.

Basic Registration — turnover up to about ₹12 lakh a year
State Licence — turnover from ₹12 lakh to roughly ₹200 crore a year
Central Licence — turnover above roughly ₹200 crore a year

Chronology

The verified facts behind this page contain no dated events, so no timeline is published; the ordered setup steps appear in the procedure section above.

A map of this guide's sections

From registration to first production run: the ordered setup

Six steps, in the order inspectors expect them.

The sequence below is the working order for a new unit. Each step names the timeframe attached to it and the rejection that typically stops applicants at that stage.

Steps 1-2 are licensing, steps 3-4 are process design, steps 5-6 are the pack and the calendar. Skipping ahead is what generates most refusals.

Step 1 — Fix the tier before you file: match turnover to Basic, State or Central. Typical rejection: turnover-category mismatch, where the slab and the application do not agree.
Step 2 — Apply and record the validity: the licence runs up to 5 years. Typical rejection: category selection that does not match the turnover slab.
Step 3 — Set the thermal process by pH: at or below pH 4.6 a boiling-water bath at 100 °C; above pH 4.6 pressure processing at 116-121 °C. Typical rejection: a low-acid product paired with a boiling-water process.
Step 4 — Write the HACCP plan: 7 principles, every critical control point given a measurable critical limit, such as 72 °C for at least 15 seconds for milk. Typical rejection: a critical limit that cannot be measured.
Step 5 — Print the compliant label: FSSAI logo, 14-digit licence number, nutrition per 100 g or 100 ml. Typical rejection: a pack without the 14-digit number.
Step 6 — Renew before expiry: renewal after the date means trading unlicensed until it clears.

The signature mark of this site, drawn as a plate

Pasteurisation, pH and water activity: the limits that choose your equipment

Three measurements decide whether you need a pasteuriser, a boiling-water bath or a pressure retort.

Milk sets the reference points. HTST pasteurisation runs at 72 °C for at least 15 seconds; the low-temperature long-time alternative holds 63 °C for 30 minutes. Both are valid; the choice is about throughput, not safety.

Acidity decides the severity of the process. Foods at pH 4.6 or below can be processed in a boiling-water bath at 100 °C. Anything above pH 4.6 is low-acid and needs pressure processing at 116-121 °C — no boiling-water shortcut exists there.

Water activity is the third gate. No microorganism grows below 0.60 aw, which is the figure dried foods are formulated to stay under. Hot-fill products take a different route: they are filled at about 85-90 °C so the product's own heat sanitises the container and closure.