IN FSSAI petfood 2024

India's pet food import framework runs on two tracks documented in USDA GAIN IN2023-0082 (FAIRS Export Certificate Report, 2023). Track 1 (animal health): under the Livestock Importation Act (1898), imports of animals and animal products require a Sanitary Import Permit (SIP) issued by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD, under MOFAHD), and the exporting country's animal health authority must issue a sanitary certificate against the permit's conditions; DAHD published an integrated veterinary health certificate (VHC, March 31, 2023) combining its sanitary requirements with FSSAI's food-safety requirements, to be certified by the exporting country's competent authority. Track 2 (food safety): FSSAI administers the Food Safety and Standards Regulations (2011) under the Food Safety and Standards Act (2006), and its August 3, 2022 order requires health certificates in the prescribed format for listed animal-product imports. Market access reality: India effectively bans imports of most animal- and livestock-derived food products, and this extends to pet foods classified in HS chapters 2-5, 16 and 21. Importers of livestock products should approach India's Animal Quarantine and Certification Services (AQCS) before shipment; original export certificates must accompany each consignment (no self-declaration). Earlier claims (a 2024 FSSAI pet-food regulation draft, USD 620M market size, named domestic brands, a 2008 Indian melamine incident) could not be confirmed in project sources and were removed.