Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 · Chapter IV: General Provisions As to Articles of Food
Section 21: Pesticides, veterinary drugs residues, antibiotic residues and microbiological counts
(1) No article of food shall contain insecticides or pesticides residues, veterinary drugs residues, antibiotic residues, solvent residues, pharmacological active substances and micro-biological counts in excess of such tolerance limit as may be specified by regulations.
(2) No insecticide shall be used directly on article of food except fumigants registered and approved under the Insecticides Act, 1968 (46 of 1968).
Explanation. - For the purposes of this section,—
(1) "pesticide residue" means any specified substance in food resulting from the use of a pesticide and includes any derivatives of a pesticide, such as conversion products, metabolites, reaction products and impurities considered to be of toxicological significance and also includes such residues coming into food from environment;
(2) "residues of veterinary drugs" include the parent compounds or their metabolites or both in any edible portion of any animal product and include residues of associated impurities of the veterinary drugs concerned.
Source: India Code (indiacode.gov.in), the consolidated text published by the Legislative Department, Government of India. Text as updated on India Code on 14 October 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.
Supreme Court judgments citing the section 21
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