Food Safety in India: Why Stronger Standards Should Protect Indians Before Exports

Food Safety in India: Why Stronger Standards Should Protect Indians Before Exports

KAKALI DAS

Have you ever wondered whether the food on your plate is truly safe? When you buy milk for your children, vegetables from the local market, fish, eggs, or honey, do you know what they contain besides nutrients? More importantly, should Indian consumers have to depend on foreign countries to ensure that the food produced in India is safe? Why do stronger food safety rules often come only after importing nations raise concerns? These questions lie at the heart of an important debate about public health, food production, and government responsibility.

Food safety is not simply about exports or international trade. It is about the health of every person who eats food every day. Every family has the right to food that is clean, nutritious, and free from harmful chemicals and unnecessary medicines. Yet, many of the strongest food safety measures introduced in recent years have been driven by the demands of countries that import Indian food rather than by the need to protect Indian consumers.

One of the biggest concerns today is the growing misuse of antibiotics in food production. Antibiotics are among the most important discoveries in modern medicine. They have saved millions of lives by treating bacterial infections that were once fatal. However, their excessive and unnecessary use has created a serious global health crisis known as antibiotic resistance.

Antibiotic resistance develops when bacteria gradually become strong enough to survive medicines that once destroyed them. As antibiotics are used repeatedly and without proper control, these bacteria evolve and become resistant to treatment. As a result, common infections become harder to cure, medical treatments become more complicated, and the risk of severe illness and death increases. The World Health Organization has repeatedly warned that antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest threats to global public health.

A major reason behind this problem is the widespread use of antibiotics in livestock farming and aquaculture. In many countries, including India, antibiotics have often been given to animals not only to treat diseases but also to help them grow faster and prevent infections before they occur. Such routine use increases the risk of resistant bacteria entering the food chain and eventually affecting human health through food, water, and the environment.

Recognising this growing threat, several countries have introduced strict regulations on the use of antibiotics in food production. The European Union has taken some of the strongest measures. It decided that animal products imported into Europe, including meat, poultry, fish, milk, eggs, and honey, would not be accepted if antibiotics had been used as growth promoters or to increase production. The European Union also identified a list of antibiotics considered critical for human medicine and decided that these medicines should no longer be used in animals in order to preserve their effectiveness for treating people.

When these regulations were introduced in 2023, India faced a major setback. The European Union removed India from the list of countries permitted to export aquaculture and poultry products after September 2026. According to European authorities, the decision was based on inadequate information and insufficient regulation governing the use of antibiotics in India’s food producing sector.

The consequences of this decision could have been significant. India exports large quantities of seafood, poultry, dairy products, honey, and other animal based foods. Losing access to one of the world’s largest markets would have affected farmers, producers, exporters, and thousands of workers whose livelihoods depend on these industries.

The situation prompted the Government of India to strengthen its regulations. In October 2024, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India introduced new rules banning the use of specific antibiotics at every stage of producing meat, milk, poultry, eggs, honey, and aquaculture products. It also established maximum residue limits for certain antibiotics that could still be used under controlled conditions, ensuring that any remaining traces in food stayed within safe limits.

Further action followed in May 2025 when the Union Ministry of Health proposed a ban on the veterinary use of thirty four of the thirty seven antibiotics that the European Union had identified as critically important for human medicine. After consultations and review, the notification was finalised in September 2025. The government concluded that using these antibiotics in food producing animals posed a risk to human health and that safer alternatives were available for treating diseases in animals.

These measures produced immediate results. In May 2026, the European Union restored India to the list of countries permitted to export animal products under its revised regulations. The decision protected India’s export market and demonstrated that stronger food safety standards could successfully meet international expectations.

While this was an important achievement, it also raises a fundamental question. Why did such comprehensive reforms come only after India’s exports were threatened? Antibiotic resistance has never been only an international trade issue. It has always been a public health issue affecting millions of Indians. Every family consumes food produced within the country, and every citizen deserves the same level of protection expected by consumers anywhere else in the world.

This issue extends far beyond antibiotics. Food safety also includes protection from excessive pesticide residues, unsafe food additives, heavy metals, toxins, and other contaminants that may enter the food chain during cultivation, processing, transportation, or storage. Food safety standards should therefore be designed primarily to protect public health. If they also strengthen India’s position in international markets, that should be considered an additional benefit rather than the main objective.

Recent data illustrates why stronger enforcement is necessary. Between 2024 and 2025, nearly 2700 consignments of Indian food products were refused entry into the United States. These included spices, rice, pulses, lentils, and several other food items. According to the United States Food and Drug Administration, many of these products contained pesticide residues that exceeded permitted limits or included substances not approved under American regulations.

Such incidents should concern Indian consumers as much as exporters. If certain products are considered unsafe for consumers abroad, similar concerns should also be addressed within India. Every citizen has the right to know that the food available in local markets has been produced according to strict safety standards.

However, strong regulations alone cannot guarantee food safety. Effective implementation is equally important. Countries importing food have established rigorous systems to ensure compliance. Food consignments are regularly tested in authorised laboratories for antibiotic residues, pesticides, and other contaminants before entering their markets.

The European Union has introduced particularly strict monitoring measures. Every shipment of animal products must carry an official health certificate issued by the exporting country’s government authority rather than by the exporter alone. European authorities also conduct inspections, audit production systems, and carry out random laboratory tests at border entry points. If a shipment fails these tests, inspections are immediately increased for future imports from that country. Repeated violations can lead to restrictions or suspension of imports until compliance is restored.

Such systems create accountability throughout the supply chain. They encourage governments, producers, and exporters to maintain high standards because failure carries significant economic consequences.

The same level of confidence should also be available to Indian consumers. Food sold within the country should be subject to regular inspections, scientific testing, transparent reporting, and effective enforcement. Consumers should not have to worry whether the vegetables, fruits, milk, fish, eggs, spices, or other food products they buy every day contain unsafe levels of harmful substances.

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Another important question is how stricter food safety regulations affect farmers. Many worry that reducing the use of antibiotics may lower productivity or increase production costs. These concerns are understandable because farmers depend on healthy animals and reliable incomes.

In practice, antibiotics have traditionally been used for three purposes. They have been administered to promote faster growth, to prevent diseases before they occur, and to treat animals that are actually sick. Modern food safety policies do not prevent farmers from treating diseased animals. Instead, they discourage the routine and unnecessary use of antibiotics for growth promotion or as a substitute for proper animal care.

This approach encourages healthier farming practices. Better housing, improved sanitation, balanced nutrition, vaccination, and disease prevention reduce the need for antibiotics while improving animal welfare. Healthy animals naturally require fewer medicines, resulting in safer food and lower long term production costs.

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India has already demonstrated that such a transition is possible. The National Dairy Development Board has worked with dairy farmers to promote traditional animal healthcare practices through ethnoveterinary medicine alongside better hygiene and preventive care. These initiatives have successfully reduced dependence on antibiotics while maintaining healthy livestock and improving the quality of dairy products.

The experience shows that food safety and agricultural productivity do not have to compete with one another. With proper training, scientific guidance, and government support, farmers can continue producing sufficient food while protecting both public health and their own livelihoods.

Ultimately, food safety is about protecting human life. Every meal should nourish people without exposing them to unnecessary health risks. Safe food begins with responsible farming, strong regulations, effective monitoring, and a commitment to place public health above every other consideration.

India has already taken important steps in this direction. The challenge now is to ensure that food safety policies are guided not by external pressure but by the needs of India’s own people. Every citizen deserves food that is safe, healthy, and produced with care. That should remain the true foundation of India’s food safety system.

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