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FOOD SAFETY INSPECTION CHECKLISTS

Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has developed inspection checkli
st for facilitating Food Safety Officers to efficiently inspect the Food Business Operator
s FBOs. The inspection checklists are used to identify the level of compliance with ea
ch requirement that is set out in the regulation These inspection checklists are based
on revised Schedule 4 of Food Safety & Standards (Licensing & Registration of Food
Businesses) Regulation, 2011 and have been developed for following sectors -

General Manufacturing size:( 0.65 MB)

Milk Processing size:( 0.66 MB)

Meat Processing size:( 0.65 MB)

Slaughter house size:( 0.66 MB)

Catering size:( 1 MB)

Retail size:( 0.97 MB)

Transport size:( 0.64 MB)

Storage & warehouse size:( 0.98 MB)

Corrigendum dated 14th May 2020 regarding Implementation of Revised Food Saf
ety Inspection checklists. (uploaded on: 20.05.2020) size:( 6.02 MB)

MARKING AND GRADING SYSTEM

The inspection checklist includes food safety observations which will be given marks b
y the Food Safety Officers. Based on the marking, the FBOs will be graded as A+, A
etc. A marking and grading scheme has been developed to facilitate the Food Safety
Officers in doing the inspection. To read more about marking and grading scheme [+],
click here
The inspection checklist has been divided into five major sections namely –

Design & facilities

Control of Operation

Maintenance & sanitation

Personal Hygiene

Training & complaint handling

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The Food Safety Officer will inspect the facility of the FBO according to the requireme
nts as laid down in the inspection checklist and accordingly will mark the finding as co
mpliance (C), non-compliance (NC), partial compliance (PC) & Not applicable/Not obs
erved (NA). All the requirements are allotted 2 marks and there are few requirements
which are asterisk marked (*) which are allotted 4 marks. Non observance to any of th
e asterisk marked (*) finding will lead to Non-Compliance (NC), as they are critical to f
ood safety. Each finding will be awarded marks as mentioned below –

S. Marks to be a Marks to be awarded in Asterisk

Finding
No. warded Mark (*) question

1 Compliance (C) 2 4

2 Non-compliance (NC) 0 0

Partial compliance (P
3 1 0
C)

Not applicable/Not ob
4 2 4
served (NA)

Compliance – Yes, the requirement is fully documented and implemented. Adherence

with the requirement with no major or minor conformance is observed.
Non-compliance - No, the requirement is not documented and implemented. Non adh
erence with the requirement with major non - conformance is observed.

Partial Compliance – Requirement is partially implemented but not documented or par

tially documented but not implemented. A non conformity that, based on the judgeme
nt and experience of the FSO, is not likely to result in the failure of the food safety ma
nagement system or reduce its ability to assure controlled processes or products. It m
ay be either a failure in some part to a specified requirement or a single observed laps
e. Partial Compliance is not applicable to asterisk marked (*) requirements as they are
critical to food safety.

Not Applicable/Not observed (NA) – Requirements are not applicable to FBO & hence
cannot be observed.
Sub-sequentially awarding the marks as per the finding against the requirements, total
marks are calculated & based on the final marks, grading of the FBOs is done. The gr
ading has been divided into 4 levels, i.e.

Grade Status Marks required

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Grade Status Marks required

A+ Compliance – Exemplar 90 & above

A Compliance – Satisfactory 80 - 89

B Needs Improvement 50 - 79

Below 50
No grade Non Compliance

MAPPING OF INSPECTION CHECKLIST WITH KIND OF BUSINESS

The inspection checklist has been developed for major business activities such as ma
nufacturing, retail [Link] there are specific kind of businesses in Food Licensing and
Registration System. Thus, to facilitate the Food Safety Officers and Food Business O
perators in selecting the inspection checklists according to their kind of business, a m
apping of inspection checklists & kind of business has been done. To read more about
mapping, click here

MAPPING OF INSPECTION CHECKLIST WITH KIND OF BUSINESS

S. Inspection
Kind of Business
No. checklist

1 Manufacturer

Dairy units including milk chilling units equipped to handle

i Milk processing
or process

Vegetable oil processing units and units producing vegetable

General
ii oil by the process of solvent extraction and refineries
manufacturing
including oil expeller unit

iii Slaughtering units Slaughter house

Meat
iv Meat processing units
processing

General
v All food processing units including relabellers and repackers
manufacturing

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S. Inspection
Kind of Business
No. checklist

Food business operators manufacturing any article of food

containing ingredients or substances or using technologies
or processes or combination thereof whose safety has not
been established through these regulations or which do not General
vi
have a history of safe use or food containing ingredients manufacturing
which are being introduced for the first time into the
country.(They need to apply for product approval at
FSSAI(HQ) separately before applying for license)

2 Other Businesses

i Storage (Except Controlled Atmosphere and Cold ) Storage

ii Storage (Cold/ Refrigerated) Storage

iii Storage (Controlled Atmosphere + Cold) Storage

Depending on
the activity they
are performing;
the relevant
inspection
iv Wholesaler
checklist would
be applicable
(Transport,
retail, storage
etc.)

v Retailer Retail

Depending on
the activity they
are performing;
the relevant
inspection
vi Distributor
checklist would
be applicable
(Transport,
retail, storage
etc.)

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S. Inspection
Kind of Business
No. checklist

vii Food Vending Agencies Retail

Depending on
the activity they
are performing;
the relevant
inspection
viii Supplier
checklist would
be applicable
(Transport,
retail, storage
etc.)

ix Caterer Catering

Dhaba, Boarding houses serving food , Banquet halls with

food catering arrangements, Home Based Canteens/ Dabba
x Wallas, Permanent/ Temporary stall Holder, Food stalls/ Catering
Arrangements in religious gatherings/ fairs etc., Fish/ Meat/
Poultry shop/ seller or any other food vending establishment

xi Club/ Canteen Catering

xii Hotel Catering

xiii Restaurant Catering

Transporter (having a number of specialised vehicles like

xiv Transport
insulated refrigerated van/ wagon, milk tankers etc.)

Depending on
the activity they
are performing;
the relevant
inspection
xv Marketer
checklist would
be applicable
(Transport,
retail, storage
etc.)

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S. Inspection
Kind of Business
No. checklist

xvi Petty retailer of snacks/ tea shops Retail

3 Premises at Central Govt. Agencies

i Food Catering/ Canteen Services in Central Govt. Agencies Catering

ii Storage (Except Controlled Atmosphere and Cold ) Storage

iii Storage (Cold/ Refrigerated) Storage

iv Storage (Controlled Atmosphere + Cold) Storage

Depending on
the activity they
are performing;
the relevant
inspection
v Wholesaler
checklist would
be applicable
(Transport,
retail, storage
etc.)

vi Retailer Retail

Depending on
the activity they
are performing;
the relevant
inspection
vii Distributor
checklist would
be applicable
(Transport,
retail, storage
etc.)

4 Mid- Day meal

i Caterer Catering

ii Canteen Catering

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