Regulation in India of Heavy Metals in Food Items: A Critical Analysis

Overview

Sadhya and Saha, both law faculty in India, review the Indian regulatory framework governing heavy metals in food items and food packaging, then survey published Indian primary studies that document recurring exceedances of those regulatory limits. The paper reproduces the per-metal, per-food-article concentration limits in Table 1 of the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations 2011 (as amended 7 August 2020), the migration limits in Table 3 of the Food Safety and Standard (Packaging) Regulations 2018 for seven metals (Ba, Co, Cu, Fe, Li, Mn, Zn), and the principal prohibitions of those Regulations (recycled plastic, newspaper wrapping, unlined copper/brass utensils, reuse of tin containers). The authors conclude that despite a layered regulatory architecture, several Indian primary studies report market-site samples that exceed the Indian and FAO maximum permissible limits, and that enforcement gaps, not the limit values themselves, are the operative problem.

Key numbers

All numbers below are reproduced from the article. The review reports no primary measurements; the regulatory-limit values are excerpts from the Indian Regulations themselves and the field-survey values are second-hand from the six cited primary studies.

Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations 2011 — Table 1 (excerpted on p. 1334, reproduced in this review’s Table 1)

The review reproduces the named-metal row of the Regulation’s Table 1 verbatim. The 2011 Regulations were amended on 7 August 2020 and the amendment came into force on 1 July 2021 (review p. 1334). Eleven heavy metals are named: lead, copper, arsenic, tin, cadmium, mercury, methyl mercury, chromium, nickel, selenium, antimony.

#	Metal contaminant	Food article (representative row from Reg Table 1)	Maximum limit (mg/kg or mg/L)
1	Lead	Agar	5
2	Copper	Ammonium hydrogen carbonate	5
3	Arsenic	Agar	3
4	Tin	Canned (citrus fruits, stone fruits, vegetables, fruit cocktail, mangoes, pineapple, raspberries, strawberries, tropical fruit salad)	250
5	Cadmium	Bivalve molluscs	2
6	Mercury	Alumina used in preparation of lake colour	1
7	Methyl mercury (calculated as the element)	All foods	0.25
8	Chromium	All fishery products	12
9	Nickel	Hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated, interesterified vegetable oils and fats (vanaspati, table margarine, bakery and industrial margarine, bakery shortening, fat spread, partially hydrogenated soyabean oil)	1.5
10	Selenium	Mineral water (mg/L)	0.05
11	Antimony	Mineral water (mg/L)	0.005

The review’s body text on p. 1334 names further per-article lead limits from the Regulation that do not appear in the excerpted Table 1 row above: baking powder 10 ppm, canned mushrooms 1.0 ppm, canned fish 5.0 ppm, concentrated soft drinks 0.5 ppm, edible oil and fats 0.5 ppm, fish 0.3 ppm, ready-to-drink fruit juices 0.05 ppm, and “food items not specified” 2.5 ppm.

The review’s body text on p. 1334 names further per-article copper limits from the Regulation: coffee beans 30 ppm, cocoa powder 70 ppm, hard-boiled sugary confectionery 5.0 ppm, tea 150 ppm, soft drinks 7.0 ppm, tomato ketchup 50 ppm, and “unspecified food items” 30 ppm.

The review’s body text on p. 1335 names further per-article arsenic limits from the Regulation: fish and crustaceans 76 ppm, hard-boiled sugar confectionery 1.0 ppm, milk 0.1 ppm, vegetable oil 0.1 ppm. (The 76 ppm value for fish and crustaceans is reproduced verbatim from the review’s body text on p. 1335 and is anomalously high relative to other arsenic-in-fish limits worldwide, which typically fall well below 2 mg/kg total arsenic; this value is flagged in Verification notes as a likely typographic error in the source. Verification against the FSSAI Gazette is required before this value is used downstream.)

The review’s body text on p. 1335 names further per-article cadmium limits from the Regulation: fish 0.3 ppm, “unspecified food articles” 1.5 ppm, leafy vegetables 0.2 ppm, potato 0.1 ppm, wheat 0.2 ppm.

The review’s body text on p. 1335 names further per-article mercury limits from the Regulation: fish 0.5 ppm, salt 0.1 ppm, vegetables 1.0 ppm, packaged drinking water 0.001 ppm, non-predatory fish/crustaceans/cephalopods/molluscs 0.5 ppm.

The review’s body text on p. 1335 names further per-article chromium limits from the Regulation: all fishery products 12 ppm, mineral water 0.05 ppm, refined sugar 0.02 ppm.

Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulations 2011 — Table 2 (excerpted on p. 1334)

The review reproduces six crop-contaminant limits (mycotoxins) for completeness. Mycotoxins are outside the heavy-metal scope of this wiki and are listed here only for fidelity to the article.

#	Contaminant	Food article	Limit (µg/kg)
1	Total aflatoxins	Cereal and cereal products	15
2	Aflatoxin B1	Arecanut or betelnut	10
3	Aflatoxin M1	Milk (liquid)	0.5
4	Ochratoxin A	Wheat, rye, barley	20
5	Patulin	Apple juice	50
6	Deoxynivalenol	Wheat	1000

Food Safety and Standard (Packaging) Regulations 2018 — Table 3 (reproduced on p. 1335)

Maximum migration limits (mg/kg) onto food for substances in plastic packaging, listed in Reg 4(4)(c) and Table 3 of the 2018 Regulations. The Regulations came into force on 1 July 2019 (review p. 1335). The review notes that the seven substances below sit alongside other plastic-packaging restrictions: Reg 3(7) prohibits reuse of tin containers; Reg 3(8) bans recycled plastic as a packaging material; Reg 3(9) requires Indian Standards compliance for printing ink on labels; Reg 3(11) bans newspaper for wrapping food items; Reg 4(3)(a)(iii) prohibits unlined copper or brass utensils for food preparation.

#	Substance	Maximum migration limit (mg/kg)
1	Barium	1
2	Cobalt	0.05
3	Copper	5
4	Iron	48
5	Lithium	0.6
6	Manganese	0.6
7	Zinc	25

Primary studies cited and summarised by the review

Das & Das 2018 (Kolkata, 2014) — across 20 local markets, eight common food items (rice, red lentil, cumin, locally made biscuit, red spinach, fish, chicken, tulsi). Red spinach mean lead (Pb) 32.11 mg/kg (32.11 ppm). Mean arsenic (As) highest in fish at 2.52 mg/kg (2.52 ppm), then red spinach 0.47 mg/kg (0.47 ppm). Review citation [11].

Sharma et al. 2009 (Varanasi, September 2004 – March 2005) — Zn, cadmium (Cd), Cu, and Pb in spinach, cauliflower, and lady’s finger collected paired at production sites and market sites. Concentrations generally lower at the production site and generally exceeding the permissible limits at the market site, with Cd exceeding permissible standards even at production sites. The review draws the methodological point that mode of transport, marketing system, time interval between production and consumption, and other production factors materially affect the concentration found at the consumer-facing market sample. Review citation [16].

Santhi et al. 2008 (Chennai) — 48 samples of frozen and canned pork meat from Chennai retail outlets, tested for Cd, chromium (Cr), Cu, Pb, Zn. 95.83% of samples exceeded the maximum permissible Cd limit (0.1 mg/kg, FAO standard cited by the article as footnote 7). 25% of samples exceeded the Pb maximum permissible limit (2.5 ppm, Meat Food Products Order standard, review footnote 8). 20.83% of samples exceeded the Zn permissible limit (50 ppm, Meat Food Products Order standard, review footnote 9). Cr exceedance also reported above limit. The review notes the cited primary study tested against the US FDA standards and the Meat Food Products Order 1973 (an erstwhile Department of Agriculture order, predecessor to the current FSSR framework), not the current Indian Regulations; the review nonetheless concludes the same samples would breach the current FSSR limits. Review citation [12].

Mathaiyan et al. 2021 (four metropolitan cities of Tamil Nadu) — Pb, Cd, As, mercury (Hg) in edible parts of broiler chicken. Pb concentrations in chicken breast (MRL 0.1 mg/kg) and liver (MRL 0.5 mg/kg) exceeded the MRL in all four cities. As concentrations in chicken breast exceeded an MRL of 0.1 mg/kg in all four cities. Review citation [13].

Swati & Chhaya 2019 (Indian markets) — 10 commercially available food packaging papers and paperboards examined for 14 heavy metals including As, Pb, nickel (Ni), Te, Ti, Cr, Ba, V. Sample types covered paper plate, cake box, fruit tray, tissue paper, coffee cup, pastry box, sweet box, pizza box, French fries box, paper bags. Pizza boxes were highest in aluminum (Al), As, Cu, Fe, Ni, V. Paper plates were highest in Mn, Pb, Te. Fruit trays were also high in Te. Pastry boxes were highest in Ba, Cr, with the same metals also highest in French fries boxes and coffee cups. The review treats this as evidence that paper-based food packaging in India contributes a non-trivial heavy-metal load comparable in significance to the plastic-packaging concerns the 2018 Packaging Regulations address. Review citation [14].

Methods (brief)

This is a legal review article, not an empirical study. The authors are law faculty (NLSIU and the University of Burdwan). The Crimson Publishers journal classifies the article as “Review Article” with submission 30 October 2023 and publication 21 December 2023 (Volume 11, Issue 5). The article carries CC BY 4.0 licensing. The review presents no original measurements, no analytical-method details, no sampling protocol, and no statistical analysis. Its quantitative content is two excerpts from the 2011 Regulations (Tables 1 and 2 of the article), one excerpt from the 2018 Packaging Regulations (Table 3 of the article), and prose summaries of six cited Indian primary studies. References include several non-academic sources (CBS Mornings 2019, Investopedia, Consumer Reports 2010) alongside the academic citations.

The non-academic references in the bibliography and the limited methodological rigor of a Crimson Publishers law-review article support the C-tier evidence rating. The review’s value to this wiki is twofold: as a regulatory-context source for the Indian FSSR 2011 (as amended 2020) and FSSR Packaging 2018 limit values, and as a pointer to the cited primary studies (Das & Das 2018, Sharma et al. 2009, Santhi et al. 2008, Mathaiyan et al. 2021, Swati & Chhaya 2019) which warrant independent ingest as primary occurrence sources for India.

Implications

Certification: Provides the regulatory backdrop for Indian (FSSR 2011 amended 2020; FSSR Packaging 2018) maximum permissible limits across the eleven named metals in food articles and seven named substances in plastic packaging. The actual rule-text values reside in the Indian Government Gazette; this review reproduces the most-cited rows. Threshold work using Indian limits as a comparator should retrieve the Gazette directly rather than relying on this review.

Courses: Useful as a single document that lays out the Indian regulatory architecture (FSSA 2006 enabling act, FSSR 2011 amended 2020 for food contaminants, FSSR Packaging 2018 for packaging-side migration limits) and points to specific primary studies showing recurring market-site exceedance. The Sharma et al. 2009 production-vs-market design is the most pedagogically useful citation here for teaching why field-survey results depend on where in the supply chain the sample is drawn.

App: No occurrence values usable for ingredient contamination_profile. No new contamination data points.

Microbiome: Not applicable. The review does not discuss microbiome endpoints.

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