FSSAI: Draft proposes recycled plastics for food packaging

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has proposed allowing specified recycled plastics in food-contact packaging, subject to conditions on their production, source material and ability to prevent substances entering food. Its notification, dated 2 November 2026 and published in the Gazette of India on 3 November 2026, sets out separate provisions for chemically recycled polyethylene and polypropylene, and for recycled polymers used in the outermost layer of multilayer packaging.

The proposal is a draft amendment to the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging) Regulations, 2018, not a final permission taking effect with this notification. FSSAI has invited objections and suggestions over a 60-day period, starting from the date copies of the Gazette containing the notification are made available to the public.

The draft would insert two clauses into regulation 4(4), which concerns plastic materials intended to come into contact with food. FSSAI has issued it under section 92, read with section 23, of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, following previous approval of the Central Government.

The proposed permissions are conditional. One ties the recycled product to standards applicable to virgin, or newly produced rather than recycled, material. The other requires food-grade source material and protective inner layers separating the recycled outer layer from food.

Conditions for PE, PP and multilayer packaging

Under proposed clause (f), recycled polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) could be used in food-contact materials when produced through chemical recycling as defined in Indian Standard IS 14534, using the monomer route. This is a production route involving the chemical building blocks of a polymer, rather than simply washing and remelting discarded plastic.

FSSAI’s draft says the resulting product must be “considered equivalent to virgin material” and meet the criteria applicable to virgin material. The clause therefore does not extend to every recycling process for PE and PP: it specifies both the route of production and the standard the output must meet.

The notification does not set out the technical contents of IS 14534 or specify a separate procedure for determining equivalence. Its operative wording makes compliance with the criteria for virgin material a condition of the proposed use.

Proposed clause (g) addresses a different packaging arrangement. FSSAI would allow recycled polymer derived exclusively from food-grade packaging material in the outermost layer of multilayer packaging intended for food contact. Multilayer packaging combines separate layers; the permission described here concerns the outside layer, not the layer touching food.

The source restriction and the barrier requirement would both apply. According to the draft, the inner layers must have adequate barrier properties to prevent substances moving from the outermost layer into food. The packaging must also satisfy the migration limits already prescribed for packaging materials.

Migration means the transfer of substances from packaging into its contents. FSSAI’s draft refers to existing limits rather than introducing numerical limits in these two proposed clauses. It also does not state a minimum recycled-content percentage or require businesses to use recycled material.

These distinctions define the proposal’s scope: chemically recycled PE and PP would face an output-equivalence condition, while recycled polymer in multilayer packaging would face restrictions on its source and placement, alongside barrier and migration requirements.

A separate framework for recycled PET

Recycled plastic in food packaging is not an entirely new subject for FSSAI. According to an 11 April 2025 report by the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service, FSSAI published the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging) First Amendment Regulations, 2025, on 28 March 2025, allowing recycled polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, for food packaging, storage and distribution.

Packaginglaw.com also reported that amendment, noting that use remained subject to national standards and guidelines notified by FSSAI. That earlier PET measure is distinct from the November 2026 draft provisions for PE, PP and the outermost layer of multilayer packaging.

FSSAI’s document, Guidelines for recycling of post-consumer PET for food contact applications & Acceptance criteria for recycled PET resin for food contact applications, describes safeguards for transforming used food-packaging PET bottles into food-grade recycled resin. Its scope excludes industrial rejected PET bottles and resin production for non-food-grade consumer applications.

The PET guidelines distinguish ordinary mechanical recycling from processes equipped to remove contamination. They say conventional washing, melting, extrusion and pelletising without a decontamination step should not be used to manufacture food-contact materials.

For the super-clean recycling process described in the guidelines, FSSAI requires a validated decontamination step, monitoring of output quality and supply-chain records supporting traceability. A challenge test checks the recycling process using deliberately introduced surrogate chemicals and measures what remains afterwards. These are PET-specific safeguards, not additional requirements stated in the November draft’s two proposed clauses.

The wider safety issue is also identified by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In its account of the report Food safety implications of recycled plastics and alternative food contact materials, FAO said environmental objectives must be pursued alongside concerns about chemical contamination and migration into food. It called for effective chemical removal during recycling and waste-stream controls that separate food-use plastic packaging.

FSSAI’s notification says objections and suggestions received within the specified consultation period will be considered before the draft is taken up after that period expires. Submissions may be addressed to its Chief Executive Officer. The notification does not specify a calendar closing date or an implementation date for the proposed provisions.