All food businesses to require BFSA registration under new rules

Dhaka: All businesses involved in Bangladesh's food supply chain—from roadside vendors and restaurants to food processors and importers—will now be required to obtain registration or licenses from the Bangladesh Food Safety Authority (BFSA) under newly introduced regulations aimed at strengthening food safety oversight.

The Food Safety (Registration and Licensing) Regulations, 2026, published in the official gazette on July 16, classify food businesses into registration and licensing categories based on the nature of their operations.

Restaurants, bakeries, catering services, juice bars, confectioneries, dairy producers, packaged food manufacturers and most food importers will need to register with the BFSA. Even street vendors selling items such as pitha, puri, and piyaju have been brought under the registration requirement.

Businesses dealing with specialized products—including infant formula, fortified foods, organic and genetically modified foods, irradiated products, edible oils and private food warehouses—will require formal licenses. Registrations and licenses will be valid for three years.

The new rules have drawn criticism from industry representatives, who argue they will increase compliance costs and add another layer to an already complex regulatory framework. Business leaders say food companies already require approvals from multiple government agencies, raising concerns over overlapping oversight and higher operating expenses.

Restaurant owners have also questioned whether the BFSA has the capacity to effectively enforce the regulations across the country's vast food sector.

Responding to the concerns, BFSA officials said enforcement would initially focus on large-scale industrial food producers. The authority also plans to recruit additional food safety officers to strengthen inspections of imported food products at major ports.