The Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), India’s food standards regulatory authority, has advised food vendors and consumers to stop using newspapers for food packaging and storage due to serious health concerns. They are working closely with state food authorities to enforce this regulation.

The printing ink on newspapers contains cancer-causing agents that can cause severe health issues. Printing inks encompass various bioactive substances, detrimental dyes, pigments, binders, additives, pathogenic microorganisms, and preservatives known to have adverse health impacts. The solvent used for the absorption of ink in newspapers is carcinogenic.

 Most of the newspapers are from recycled paper which may be contaminated with metallic contaminants, mineral oils, and harmful chemicals like phthalates which can cause digestive problems and also lead to severe toxicity are loaded with hormone-disrupting elements in the form of benzophenones and mineral oils. The substances can cause a major disruption in the reproductive cycle, particularly in women.

People can get clostridium bacteria induced food poisoning from poor food handling practices.

The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 received the assent of the President on 23rd August, 2006,and is hereby published for general information:-FOOD SAFETY AND STANDARDS ACT, 2006 No. 34 OF 2006.

It is an Act to consolidate the laws relating to food and to establish the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India for laying down science-based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale, and import, to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.