Stating that certain provisions of the Food Safety Ordinance are “impracticable” for implementation “without an effective and meaningful division between restaurants, street vendors, food trucks and hawkers”, the Karnataka High Court directed the central government to frame separate guidelines for large, medium and small restaurants, etc., as the current regulations apply to the food industry only on the basis of their annual business turnover.
The court directed the Karnataka government to introduce health and safety standards for all street vendors, food trucks and create a vigilance mechanism over their strict implementation.
Justice M. Nagaprasanna issued the directions while disposing of a petition filed in 2012 by Karnataka Pradesh Hotel and Restaurant Association, Bruhat Bengaluru Hotel Association. The associations challenged certain provisions of the Food Safety and Standards (FS&S) (Licensing and Registration of Food Establishments) Regulations, 2011; FS&S (packaging and labelling) regulations; FS&S (Standards for Food Products and Food Additives) Regulations and penalties prescribed by the FS&S Act.
Although the court did not find any arbitrariness or illegality in the law or the regulations, as the legal validity of these laws had already been upheld by various other high courts and the Supreme Court after this petition was filed in 2012, the court found that the regulations “create some impracticability” for implementation as the food industry is bifurcated only on the basis of their annual turnover. “…a bifurcation must follow to maintain food and health standards at every stage of consumption, be it consumption in a large restaurant, a small restaurant, food trucks or even street vendors,” the court said.
The new law or guidelines specifically and separately for restaurant businesses, dividing them into small, medium and large scale businesses, should clearly state hygiene, cooking processes, raw material sourcing etc. to be in line with traditional Indian cooking and cooking standards, the court said.
“It is a cultural truth that street food in India is a respected norm. Therefore, the spirit of Indian cuisine flourishes from humble roadside stalls to modern food trucks or uber restaurants. However, licensing and registration of food businesses delineate their boundaries based on annual turnover, thereby distinguishing small business from large restaurants, which is only one economic measure,” the court noted.
The court further said: “although food trucks are to be regulated if there is food consumption by people. The food consumed should be healthy. Maintaining food standards for health reasons for every citizen is the duty of the state by introducing a regulatory regime that is far from hazy”.
Published – 04 Nov 2025 20:58 IST
