Politics on Plate: Food Standards, Governance and the Health Welfare of Citizens in India

Food regulation in India sits at the intersection of governance, politics, and public health, and this relationship directly shapes the quality of food available to consumers as well as the credibility of the systems meant to protect them. This study examines how governance influences both the making and enforcement of food safety policy, with particular attention to adulteration, contamination, and misleading labelling, all of which continue to pose serious risks to public health. Although the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India was established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 to create a more integrated regulatory framework, the continued adulteration of everyday products such as milk, spices, and edible oils shows that enforcement still falls short in practice. These violations do not just lower food quality; they also expose consumers to poisoning, malnutrition, and long-term lifestyle related diseases. The issue, then, is not only about law on paper but about a wider governance gap shaped by political interference, corruption, weak infrastructure, limited staffing, under equipped laboratories, and delays in legal adjudication. At the same time, fragmented accountability, overlaps between central and state agencies, and poor public access to regulatory data reduce transparency and weaken public trust. By combining legislative analysis, regulatory evaluation, and political economy, this research argues for stronger implementation, better institutional capacity, digital monitoring, and more open data systems so that food safety standards can translate into real consumer protection.