Is there a producer certificate for food?
There is no FSSAI document called a producer certificate. A person who manufactures, stores, sells, or imports food holds the registration or the licence that applies to that business. A producer company holds a certificate of incorporation, and that certificate is not the food permission.
What does a food business hold?
From 1 April 2026, turnover up to ₹1.5 crore takes a registration. A higher turnover takes a state licence or a central licence. The application is on FoSCoS. The number has 14 digits and is displayed at the premises and on the pack. Which band applies, and the penalty where a licence was required, is on the FSSAI licence page. How the application is made is on the registration page.
What does a producer company hold?
A producer company is a company of producers under the Companies Act. The Registrar issues a certificate of incorporation. The members, the board, and the objects are on the producer company page and the farmer producer company page. Incorporation does not authorise the company to manufacture or sell food. The food permission is still the FSSAI registration or licence.
Does a brand owner skip the food permission?
No. A person who sells food under a brand, and does not operate the factory, still needs the permission that covers that activity. There is no second path called a conditional producer certificate, and there is no separate risk-assessment certificate issued under that name before the food can be sold.
Is an export paper the same thing?
No. Export can require an importer-exporter code, and a consignment can require the health or origin paper the importing country asks for. Those papers do not replace the FSSAI registration or licence for a food business in India. They are not issued as a general producer certificate valid for six months.
Frequently asked questions
Four questions cover the FSSAI document, incorporation, a state drug office, and export.
Does FSSAI issue a producer certificate?
No. The permission is a registration or a licence, with a 14-digit number. There is no separate producer certificate beside that permission.
Is the certificate of incorporation the food permission?
No. A producer company receives a certificate of incorporation from the Registrar. Food it manufactures or sells still needs the FSSAI registration or licence.
Does a state drug authority issue this certificate?
No. A food business does not obtain a producer certificate from a state food-and-drug office under that name. The food permission is the FSSAI registration or licence.
Is there a six-month producer certificate for export?
Not as a general food permission. An export of agricultural produce can need the papers that export requires, including an importer-exporter code. Those papers are not a substitute for the FSSAI permission, and they are not a six-month producer certificate.
Sources
A food business is permitted under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, by a registration or a licence. A producer company is incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013.