New FSSAI Guidelines for Licensing of Ayurveda Aahara
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The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has announced a new business category under its FoSCoS system for Ayurveda Aahara. This step has been taken to support food businesses that want to manufacture Ayurveda based foods as per the Food Safety and Standards (Ayurveda Aahara) Regulations, 2022.
What is Ayurveda Aahara?
According to FSSAI, Ayurveda Aahara refers to food products that are prepared using recipes, ingredients, or methods mentioned in the authoritative books of Ayurveda listed in Schedule A of the regulations. These foods are meant to align with the concept of Ayurveda but are strictly categorized as food and not medicine. Importantly, Ayurveda Aahara does not include Ayurvedic drugs or proprietary medicines, cosmetics, narcotic or psychotropic substances, herbs listed under Schedule E-1 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, or metal based Ayurvedic preparations like bhasma and pishti. It also excludes any other restricted ingredients notified by FSSAI from time to time. Thus, Ayurveda Aahara must be understood only as a safe food product and not confused with medicinal or pharmaceutical preparations.
Why is this Important?
Earlier, FoSCoS did not have a special category for Ayurveda-based foods. With the growing demand for natural and traditional foods, FSSAI has created a new Kind of Business (KoB) specifically for Ayurveda Aahara. This will make it easier for companies to manufacture and sell such products legally.
New Business Category Details
KoB Name: Ayurveda Aahara (under “Manufacturer” group)
Eligibility: Only Central License is applicable
Annual Fee: Rs. 7500 + GST
Inspection Checklist: Same as general manufacturers
Documents Needed: 10 documents (as per FSSAI order of 19.03.2021) + other state-specific requirements
Food Categories under Ayurveda Aahara
FSSAI has divided Ayurveda Aahara into different categories:
Category A (Standardized Products)
Products can be chosen from FSSAI’s standardized list.
No extra approval needed unless making disease risk reduction claims.
Category B, B1, and B2 (Non-standardized Products)
Require approval from FSSAI (HQ) for products.
Any health or disease-related claims also need approval.
Who Can Apply?
Manufacturers (Central License only)
Exporters (Manufacturer/Trade/Retail/100% Export Units)
State or central licenses are possible depending on the business scale.