Home > Food Safety Inspection Checklist based on Schedule IV

About Food Safety Inspection based on Schedule IV:

To provide assurance of food safety, Food businesses must implement an effective Food Safety Management System (FSMS) based on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) and suitable pre- requisite programmes by actively controlling hazards throughout the food chain starting from food production till final consumption.

As per the license condition under FSS (Licensing & Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations 2011, every food business operator (FBO) applying for licensing must have a documented FSMS plan and comply with schedule 4 of this regulation. Schedule 4 introduces the concept of FSMS based on implementation of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Good Hygiene Practices (GHP) by food businesses and is divided into five parts as under:

• Part 1:- Food business operators applying for registration- Petty food operators
• Part 2:- Food business operators applying for license- Manufacturing
• Part 3:- Food business operators applying for license- Milk and milk products
• Part 4:- Food business operators applying for license- Slaughter house and Meat Processing
• Part 5:- Food business operators applying for license- Catering FoSTaC trainings should be undertaken for a better understanding of Schedule IV

Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has developed inspection checklist for facilitating Food Safety Officers to efficiently inspect the Food Business Operators FBOs. The inspection checklists are used to identify the level of compliance with each 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
• Milk Processing
• Meat Processing
• Slaughter House
• Catering
• Retail
• Transport
• Storage & Warehouse

Marking & grading system –

The inspection checklist includes food safety observations which will be given marks by 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,

The inspection checklist has been divided into five major sections namely –

• Design & facilities
• Control of Operation
• Maintenance & sanitation
• Personal Hygiene
• Training & complaint handling

The Food Safety Officer will inspect the facility of the FBO according to the requirements as laid down in the inspection checklist and accordingly will mark the finding as compliance (C), non-compliance (NC), partial compliance (PC) & Not applicable/Not observed (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 the asterisk marked (*) finding will lead to Non-Compliance (NC), as they are critical to food safety.  Each finding will be awarded marks as mentioned below –

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 adherence with the requirement with major non – conformance is observed.

Partial Compliance – Requirement is partially implemented but not documented or partially documented but not implemented. A non conformity that, based on the judgement and experience of the FSO, is not likely to result in the failure of the food safety management system or reduce its ability to assure controlled processes or products. It may be either a failure in some part to a specified requirement or a single observed lapse. 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 grading has been divided into 4 levels, i.e.

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• Revised Food Safety Inspection Checklist
• Sectorwise Food Safety Inspection Checklist
• Marking & Grading System
• Hygiene Rating System

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