The seizure of 200 kg of artificially ripened mangoes using calcium carbide by food safety officials in Hyderabad has sounded an alert over the safety of mangoes arriving in Guwahati and across markets in the Northeast region. Strict action against violators of food safety norms under the provisions of The Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Amendment Regulations, 2026, is pivotal to protect consumers from any health hazard. The new regulations include provisions for the perpetual validity of Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) licences and registrations, meaning that they will remain valid unless suspended, cancelled or surrendered. Although Food Business Operators (FBOs) are no longer required to renew their licences and registrations under the new regulatory regime that has come into effect from April 1, they must ensure compliance with other statutory requirements related to the maintenance of hygiene, safety, etc. as applicable. The FBOs have the option to select a fee for any number of years at once and can pay the fee at any time of the year, which has enhanced ease of doing business by reducing the burden of paperwork and red tape. The most significant relaxation under the new regulatory framework is that street food vendors, hawkers, food carts, food trucks and similar food businesses registered under the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014, shall be deemed to be registered under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. However, all such vendors must comply with the hygiene and sanitary requirements specified under Schedule 4 of the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011, as applicable. This Act prohibits the use of calcium carbide or acetylene gas for the artificial ripening of fruits due to potential health hazards, but it allows the use of ethylene gas for artificial ripening, as it is a natural hormone and does not pose any health hazard to consumers, but it must be ensured that the source of ethylene gas does not come into direct contact with fruits. As a high cost is involved in the use of ethylene gas for artificial ripening, unscrupulous traders use prohibited low-cost calcium carbide. Apart from reducing administrative burden for obtaining and renewing licences, inspection visits by food safety officials have also been reduced for FBOs, which have clean and good records of food safety compliance. This provision, however, leaves scope for erring FBOs to skip mandatory safety provisions for cutting corners until the lack of compliance is detected during inspection visits by food safety officials. With thousands of street vendors coming under the purview of the new regulations, it has become more difficult to find out if the newly added FBOs have past records of food safety compliance, as their baseline data is limited to their history with Guwahati Municipal Corporation and other local bodies. This calls for intensifying mobile food safety tests by deploying mobile food safety laboratories across the capital city and other marketplaces in the state and the region. The news of the mobile food safety laboratory conducting on-the-spot food safety and quality tests in different places in Assam is laudable, but it is essential that the baseline data of all FBOs are updated by covering every single market across the region. The new regulations stipulate that the food authority may provide a scheme of periodic inspection and food safety audits of the food businesses. The frequency and nature of inspections shall be determined through a dynamic risk-based mechanism, the type of food business, past compliance history, third-party audit results and the risk category of food handled. As the number of food safety officials is disproportionate to the number of FBOs, overreliance on past compliance history could prove to be ineffective in ensuring consumer safety. With past instances of use of calcium carbide for artificially ripening mangoes and other fruits sold in Guwahati and other markets in the region, while most such adulteration goes undetected, on-the-spot inspection needs to be prioritized until the ecosystem of voluntary compliance is ensured among all FBOs, including the street vendors selling raw fruits and other food items. Building consumer awareness is critical to strengthening safety compliance among food vendors. Under the new digital inspection regime, consumers getting easy access to digital data uploaded on the FSSAI website is crucial to boosting their confidence about the quality and safety of food sold by FBOs, including street vendors. When consumers are aware of various safety compliances by vendors and the prohibition on the use of calcium carbide for ripening mango, banana and other fruits, they can report the violations to food safety officials and also refrain from purchasing and consuming such harmful fruits. As the northeast region is highly dependent on the supply of fruits from outside, apart from retail consumers, commercial buyers can play a greater and crucial role in raising the benchmark on food safety.