Carbide Ripening explained: this guide covers what it means, who it applies to, the step-by-step process, documents required, fees, due dates and penalties in India — so you can stay compliant with confidence and avoid costly mistakes.
Regulations 2.3.1 to 2.3.13 are a run of short, single-subject bans and conditions. They stop food being coated with mineral oil, a look-alike being sold as honey, tobacco and nicotine being used as ingredients, fruit being ripened with carbide gas, ghee or butter being mixed with substitutes, flavoured tea being sold without Tea Board registration, and common salt being sold without iodisation. Three of them (2.3.2, 2.3.8 to 2.3.10) are omitted. Ripening units, tea packers and salt traders can ask for a check of stock and labels through FSSAI compliance support.
The text is read as amended up to 23 May 2026 (FSSAI Compendium Version XI dated 02.04.2025, consolidated to the notification of 17 October 2024, and the notification of 23 May 2026 omitting regulation 2.3.14(8)); that last notification does not touch 2.3.1 to 2.3.13. FSSAI compendia are reference consolidations and the Gazette text prevails. Later notifications should be checked on fssai.gov.in.
These thirteen regulations each ban one practice. No food coated with mineral oil, no use of the word honey for a food that resembles but is not pure honey, no tobacco or nicotine as ingredients, no fruit ripened with acetylene (carbide) gas, no ghee or butter mixed with substitutes, flavoured tea only from Tea Board registered manufacturers, and common salt only if iodised. Ethylene gas is allowed for ripening up to 100 ppm, depending on crop, variety and maturity. Fruit sellers, ripening units, tea packers, salt traders and dairies are the main groups affected.
The thirteen regulations at a glance
| Regulation | Subject | Rule as printed |
|---|---|---|
| 2.3.1 | food coated with mineral oil | not to be sold, except where mineral oil is permitted under these Regulations and the Food Products Standards and Food Additives Regulations, 2011 |
| 2.3.2 | omitted | note 9 in the compendium |
| 2.3.3 | look-alike honey | the word "honey" or any mark, illustration or device suggesting honey not to be used for a food that resembles honey but is not pure honey |
| 2.3.4 | tobacco and nicotine | not to be used as ingredients in any food product |
| 2.3.5 | carbide gas ripening | fruits artificially ripened with acetylene gas not to be sold; ethylene allowed as a proviso |
| 2.3.6 | fresh fruits and vegetables | no rotting, and no coating of waxes, mineral oil and colours, with a wax proviso |
| 2.3.7 | admixtures of ghee or butter | prohibited, with a proviso for preparation at the time |
| 2.3.8 to 2.3.10 | omitted | footnotes 16 and 9 |
| 2.3.11 | flavoured tea | only from manufacturers registered with Tea Board |
| 2.3.12 | common salt | only if iodized, with listed exceptions |
| 2.3.13 | flesh of naturally dead animals or fowls | not to be sold or used as an ingredient |
Mineral oil, honey look-alikes and tobacco: 2.3.1, 2.3.3 and 2.3.4
Regulation 2.3.1 bars any person from selling, offering, exposing for sale or having in the premises for sale, food articles coated with mineral oil, except where the standards in these Regulations and in the Food Products Standards and Food Additives Regulations, 2011 permit it. The ban therefore depends on the product standard, and the exception is that standard's permission.
Regulation 2.3.3 is a labelling-and-advertising ban. The word "honey", or any word, mark, illustration or device suggesting honey, must not appear on the label or any package of, or in any advertisement for, a food that resembles honey but is not pure honey. A syrup sold with a bee on the pack falls within this. For the product standard for honey itself, see our post on honey standards and purity testing.
Regulation 2.3.4, headed "Product not to contain any substance which may be injurious to health", says only that tobacco and nicotine shall not be used as ingredients in any food product.
Regulation 2.3.5: carbide gas and ethylene
The main rule says no person shall sell, offer or expose for sale, or have in the premises for sale, fruits that have been artificially ripened by acetylene gas, "commonly known as carbide gas". A proviso, inserted by the notification of 23 August 2016, says fruits may be artificially ripened by Ethylene gas at a concentration up to 100 ppm (100 µl/L) depending upon the crop, variety and maturity.
The ban is on selling or holding for sale. A fruit trader cannot defend a consignment by saying the ripening was done upstream, because the regulation attaches to the fruit and to possession for sale.
Regulation 2.3.6: fresh fruits and vegetables
Fresh fruits and vegetables must be without rotting and without any coating of waxes, mineral oil and colours. The proviso allows fresh fruits to be coated with bees wax (white and yellow), carnauba wax or shellac wax at a level not exceeding Good Manufacturing Practices, under proper label declaration as provided in regulation 2.4.5 (44) of the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011.
That 2011 instrument has been replaced by the Packaging Regulations, 2018 and the Labelling and Display Regulations, 2020; the cross-reference is printed as it stands, and our articles on those two instruments show the current labelling text.
Regulation 2.3.7: ghee and butter mixtures
No person shall sell, possess for sale, or use as an ingredient a mixture of ghee or butter and any substance (1) prepared in imitation of or as a substitute for ghee or butter, or (2) consisting of or containing any oil or fat that does not conform to the definition of ghee. The proviso permits a prohibited mixture to be made only at the time of preparing an article of food that requires it.
Regulation 2.3.11: flavoured tea
Flavoured tea may be sold or offered for sale only by manufacturers registered with Tea Board. The registration number must be on the label, and the tea is to be sold only in packed condition with the label declaration under regulation 2.4.5 (23) of the 2011 Packaging and Labelling Regulations. A packer of flavoured tea in a tea-and-coffee line may read this with FSSAI compliance for tea and coffee businesses.
Regulation 2.3.12: common salt
Inserted by the notification of 25 June 2019, regulation 2.3.12 says no person shall sell, offer, expose for sale or have in premises common salt for direct human consumption, or for use as an ingredient in a food product, unless it is iodized. The proviso lists uses for which common salt may be sold without iodisation: iodization, iron fortification, animal use, preservation not meant for direct consumption, infant food products, manufacturing medicines and industrial use, under proper label declarations as specified in regulation 2.4.4 of the 2011 Packaging and Labelling Regulations.
An invented example: Narmada Salt Works packs two lines, a table salt and a bulk salt for a pickle plant's preservation tanks. The table salt must be iodized; the bulk salt may go uniodised only under the proviso and with the proper label declaration.
Regulation 2.3.13: flesh of naturally dead animals or fowls
No person shall sell, or use as an ingredient in food intended for sale, the flesh of any animal or fowl that has died on account of natural causes.
Where these sit in the Act
The Act's own definitions of unsafe food and sub-standard food are in section 3 of the FSS Act. The other regulations in this series are the opening admixtures regulation, in our article on regulations 1.1, 1.2 and 2.1, and the conditions for sale, beginning with regulation 2.3.14 clauses 1 to 10. Fruit and salt traders who want their stock and labels checked can use FSSAI compliance support.
Need help with a sales prohibition?
Ripening units, salt packers and tea blenders often hold stock that touches one of these regulations. Our FSSAI compliance support service reviews the product, its labels and its supply chain against regulations 2.3.1 to 2.3.13.
Key takeaways
- Carbide (acetylene) ripened fruit may not be sold; ethylene up to 100 ppm is the printed exception.
- Mineral oil coating is barred except as the product standards permit.
- Common salt for direct human consumption or as a food ingredient must be iodized.
- Flavoured tea needs Tea Board registration and the number on the label.
- Regulations 2.3.2 and 2.3.8 to 2.3.10 are omitted.
Read next
- Regulations 1.1, 1.2 and 2.1: admixtures that may not be sold
- Regulation 2.3.14 clauses 1 to 10: conditions for sale
- Prohibited substances in food under FSSAI rules
- Section 3, FSS Act: sale of sub-standard and unsafe food
Disclaimer: Based on the FSSAI regulations named above as consolidated in FSSAI's compendium versions or as published in the Gazette, with the later notifications the article names (consulted on fssai.gov.in on 2-3 October 2026). Later notifications and the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 provisions referred to should be checked. This article is general information, not legal advice; check the official text before acting.