# No More Metal Pins in Your Cake Box: FSSAI Orders Food Sellers to Drop Staples or Face Penalties

> India's food regulator FSSAI has told all food businesses to immediately stop using metal pins, staples and wire in food packaging, warning that customers could swallow them. Violators face penal action under the FSS Act, 2006.

**Category:** Business · **Published:** 2026-06-13 · **Source:** TrendKia
**Canonical:** https://trendkia.com/en/business/keka-aura-parsala-men-lagi-pina-tara-aba-bnda-fssai-ka-sakhta-adesha-chuka-karan-311

## Why the regulator stepped in
The next time you unwrap a takeaway parcel or open a cake box, take a closer look at how it's sealed. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued a clear instruction to food businesses across the country: metal pins and wire have no place in food packaging anymore. The regulator says the practice can directly endanger a customer's health and must stop at once.

## What the directive covers
In an advisory issued in the interest of public health and food safety, FSSAI said it had come across cases where food business operators (FBOs) are using metal or staple pins and wire to close or hold their products together. This ranges from making decorative cakes and similar items to sealing food packets, cake boxes, sweet boxes, snack pouches and takeaway food parcels. Every business that sells food items — including hotel and restaurant operators — is expected to follow the order.

## The real danger
According to the regulator, there have been several instances where metal or staple pins were found embedded or attached inside cakes and food packets. FSSAI has flagged this as a 'serious food safety risk'. The biggest worry is that a customer could unknowingly swallow such a pin, which can cause harm and adversely affect health. That, the regulator says, is exactly why extra caution is needed.

## What businesses must do
The advisory directs all FBOs to immediately stop using metal pins, wire or any similar material to seal, join, secure or package any food item, food parcel, takeaway meal, bakery product, cake box, sweet box, snack packet or any other food article or package.

## The consequences of ignoring it
FSSAI has warned in no uncertain terms that if an operator fails to comply with this instruction, appropriate penal action will be taken against them in accordance with the provisions of the FSS Act, 2006 and the applicable rules.

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