Every day, lakhs of Indians eat bread without giving a second thought to the knife that slices it or the pan in which it is baked. For Hyderabad-based food safety activist Anirudh Gupta, those unseen tools became the focus for a four-year battle that has now resulted in the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) ordering food businesses to discard rusted cutting equipment.

The advisory, issued by the FSSAI on June 15, directed Food Business Operators (FBOs) to use only food-grade, corrosion-resistant knives, blades and cutting equipment in food handling and processing operations.

“The use of rusted, corroded, chipped, painted, damaged, inadequately cleaned or non-food-grade knives, blades and cutting equipments may result in physical, chemical and microbiological contamination of food and is not in conformity with the sanitary and hygienic requirements prescribed under Schedule 4 of the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011,” the regulator said.

For Mr. Gupta, the order marks the culmination of a campaign that began in 2022 after he noticed what he described as widespread use of unsuitable food-contact equipment during visits to food industry exhibitions and manufacturing units.

What started as curiosity, backed by his family’s association with the bread industry and his understanding of metallurgy, evolved into a campaign involving representations to authorities, meetings with Union Ministers and successive FSSAI chiefs, and eventually an appeal to the Prime Minister’s Office.

“Inferior-quality, rusted or recycled carbon steel blades used in bread-slicing machines could potentially contaminate food and release metal particles due to repeated regrinding. The problem extends beyond bakeries to restaurants and even star hotels. Even low levels of contamination over prolonged periods could have health consequences, making safer food-contact equipment particularly important,” he said.

In October 2022, Mr. Gupta wrote to the FSSAI, urging it to launch inspections of major bread manufacturers and issue fresh guidelines governing the use of bread slicer blades. In his representation, he warned that unsafe food-contact equipment could pose health risks and called for improved standards for slicing bakery products.

“Multiple representations between 2022 and 2025 yielded little response. Heads of FSSAI kept changing and everybody said the issue was outside their purview,” Mr. Gupta said.

The turning point came after he compiled years of correspondence, photographs, samples and documents into a 157-page book titled ‘Aarambh’. The dossier was first submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office on December 31, 2025, and again on May 12 this year. Mr. Gupta said the Prime Minister’s Office forwarded the matter to the Ministries of Health and Consumer Affairs on May 21, leading to fresh movement within the FSSAI.

Mr. Gupta said the June 15 advisory was only the first step and that ensuring compliance among large companies would remain a challenge. “If a street food vendor is told that the knife they are using is unsafe or of poor quality, they will replace it within a few days because they would not want to lose customers. The bigger challenge lies with large companies. It would not surprise me if some of them find ways to circumvent the order and continue with the same practices,” he said.