Food Safety & Standards Authority Of India (FSSAI) Internship Scheme(FSSAIIS)

Overview

About FSSAIIS

FSSAI opened and shut its July to September 2026 internship inside a single short window in June, and the notice that followed recorded 11,160 applications for it. The final shortlist runs to 91 names, with another 75 held on a waitlist annexure (FSSAI shortlist notice, 13th July, 2026).

Nothing here is awarded on marks or on family income, which is what a listing under scholarships tends to imply. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India is the statutory body created under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, and this scheme attaches a student to one of its own divisions, on the strength of their academic and technical training, to run a project on some aspect of food and nutrition management processes (FSSAI internship circular).

The place-of-internship table is the map. Headquarters at FDA Bhawan in New Delhi opens Human Resource, Information Technology, Quality Assurance, Regulatory Compliance, Science and Standards, Imports and Trade with International Cooperation, Legal, the Policy Coordination Unit, Social and Behavioural Change, Training, and the Central Procurement Unit with General Administration. The eastern, northern and southern regional offices, at Kolkata, Ghaziabad and Chennai, carry a single subject between them, food imports clearance and licensing. The National Food Laboratories at Ghaziabad, Kolkata and Chennai, and the Kolkata extension centre at Raxaul, carry one of their own, food sampling and testing (FSSAI internship circular, June 2026).

Neither map is usable this minute. Apply Online and Login on the FSSAI portal both land on the same short notice, which says the application is closed and names the date the window shut (FSSAI internship portal).

Who runs it

Provider

At a glance

Key details

Calendar

Important dates

The calendar is quarterly and the windows are short, which is the single most useful thing to know about applying here.

Only the first of those three dates was published in advance. The timeline table in the June 2026 circular fills in the dates for receiving and closing applications and then leaves both the announcement of shortlisted candidates and the date of joining as will be communicated (FSSAI internship circular, June 2026), which is why the other two rows above exist only inside the July notice. FSSAI offers the internship on a quarterly basis throughout the year, so a missed window costs a quarter rather than a year (FSSAI internship circular).

A listing can outlive the round it describes, and this one does. The scheme record on myScheme still shows an Apply Online link, and following it reaches the same closed notice on the FSSAI portal rather than a form (myScheme scheme record).

Who can apply

Eligibility criteria

You have to still be studying. FSSAI admits only candidates pursuing a full-time graduate, postgraduate or higher degree from a recognised institute in India or abroad, and the note printed under its own eligibility list tells students who have completed those courses not to apply (FSSAI internship advertisement).

The discipline list is wider than the food-science reading of it, and the clause that follows each entry is shorter than most summaries of this scheme suggest.

That right-hand column is the one worth reading against the older material still in circulation. Only public policy and public administration carries a place restriction in the June 2026 circular. The myScheme record runs the earlier text, which also tied management and law to headquarters, and both of those restrictions are absent from the document FSSAI issued for this round (myScheme scheme record). Where the two disagree, the dated circular is the instrument in force.

Commerce is the entry the older text does not have at all. Bachelor of Commerce and equivalent courses sits as the last clause of the June 2026 eligibility list, and appears neither in the January 2023 circular nor in the scheme record (FSSAI internship circular, June 2026).

What the circular puts in place of the missing restrictions is a duty on the applicant. It asks every candidate to make sure the place they are opting for has the subject or topic available there, and adds that at an FSSAI lab only technically qualified candidates will be eligible, which is the sentence that decides whether a food technologist can pick Raxaul and a management student cannot.

No minimum percentage appears in the June 2026 circular, in the January 2023 circular, in the portal's application instructions or in the scheme record. Marks are not the filter here. What FSSAI asks for instead is a written case, which is covered under How to Apply below.

Who cannot apply

Exclusions

Three things put an application out of contention before a nodal officer reads it.

Holding the degree already is the first. The eligibility note is addressed to students who are still enrolled, and it asks those who have completed the listed courses not to apply, which shuts out the graduate waiting on a first job (FSSAI internship advertisement).

Sending more than one form is the second, and FSSAI states flatly that multiple applications will not be entertained. Opting for a National Food Laboratory posting without the technical qualification for laboratory work is the third, because eligibility at a lab is judged against the subject that lab handles.

Beyond those, FSSAI sets no bar by caste, income, domicile or age, and reserves no places by category. The internship documents carry nothing of that kind at all.

Continuation

Renewal conditions

An FSSAI internship does not carry over into the next quarter. What can move is the finish date: the circular offers a minimum of 02 months, extendable to a maximum period of 06 months, and underlines the floor by adding that no internship of shorter duration will be offered (FSSAI internship circular). It names nobody as the authority who grants an extension and sets out no procedure for asking, so the tenure printed against a name in the selection notice is the one to plan a term around.

FSSAI's own three descriptions of that length do not agree with each other. The circular's floor is 02 months. The myScheme record says the internship is offered for a duration of up to 03 months, extendable to the same maximum (myScheme scheme record). The internship portal's own About page invites students to explore live projects of 1 to 6 months, which is shorter at the bottom than either (FSSAI internship portal).

A candidate who applied for one quarter and was not selected is told to apply again for the next quarter, as a fresh application rather than a file FSSAI carries forward (FSSAI internship circular, June 2026).

What you get

Award & benefits

The stipend is one payment for the whole term, not a monthly rate, and it is not automatic. FSSAI fixes it at Rs 10,000 for the internship period and releases it only to interns whom the office or division they are attached to recommends (FSSAI internship circular).

What earns that recommendation is written down rather than left to a supervisor's mood, and the June 2026 circular moved the last of the three tests. FSSAI weighs attendance, then the assessment by the intern's reporting officer, then the evaluation of the report by the Divisional Head at headquarters, or by the Director at a regional office or National Food Laboratory (FSSAI internship circular, June 2026). The scheme record still carries the earlier version of that third test, which put the evaluation with a Project Evaluation Committee (myScheme scheme record).

The amount has held across cycles. The wording quoted above is from the circular FSSAI issued for the intake beginning January 2023, and the scanned circular for the current cycle repeats the same clause, with the phrase covering the whole internship period set in bold (FSSAI internship circular).

Everything else an intern needs, they bring. FSSAI provides working space, an internet facility and other necessities, requires interns to have their own laptops, and states that it will not cover local lodging or travel and will not bear boarding expenses (FSSAI internship circular).

The certificate is conditional in the same way the money is, and it is signed where the work was done rather than centrally. It follows the submission and review of the final report or presentation, and is awarded by the Divisional Head the intern was attached to at headquarters, or by the Director of the regional office or laboratory (FSSAI internship circular, June 2026). An intern reading the scheme record will find an older arrangement there, a certificate from the Human Resource Division at headquarters on the committee's recommendation; the June 2026 circular replaced it.

• Stipend: A stipend of ₹10,000/- (Rupees ten thousand only) for the internship period will be given to the deserving Interns on the recommendation of the Office/Division that they are attached with by the respective FSSAI (HQ)/Regional Offices / Laboratories.
• NOTE: The criteria for deserving interns will be decided based on their (a) attendance, (b) assessment by their respective reporting officers; and (c) evaluation of the report by the Committee.
• Working Space: FSSAI shall provide working space, internet facility and other necessities.
• NOTE 1: FSSAI shall not cover local lodging and travel facilities.
• NOTE 2: FSSAI will not bear the expenses of any Boarding.
• NOTE 3: Interns would be required to have their own laptops.
• Certificate: All the interns will be awarded a certificate by the Human Resource Division, FSSAI (HQ) on successful completion of the internship i.e. on submission, review of final report/presentation and recommendation by the Project Evaluation Committee.

What to prepare

Documents required

Two of the uploads are rejected on size and file type alone, so they are worth preparing before the form is opened.

The originals matter more than the uploads, and they are produced later. At joining, an intern hands over a letter from the institute confirming their status as a student, a no objection certificate permitting the internship for the period selected, a character certificate from the authority of the institute, and proof of the educational qualifications entered on the form (FSSAI internship advertisement).

FSSAI enforced that in the shortlist notice for the July to September 2026 quarter in one line. Selected candidates were told to bring every document in original along with an NOC from the Head of Institution clearly mentioning the duration of the internship, and that no candidate would be allowed to join without it (FSSAI shortlist notice).

Step by step

How to apply

Applications run on FSSAI's own internship portal and nowhere else. The Apply Online link on the portal opens the form directly, with no registration on a separate national portal in front of it (FSSAI internship portal).

The form is built to be filled across several sittings. Entering the candidate's name and email address saves it and returns a unique Application Code on the next screen, and that code with the same email address logs the candidate back in to edit and finally submit (FSSAI application instructions).

Its structure is fixed. The first 13 questions cover basic details, contact information and the course being pursued, and all are mandatory at final submission; the educational qualification section asks for academic history from Class 10 onwards across 5 rows, of which the first two must be filled (FSSAI application instructions).

Then comes the only part of the form that is written rather than filled in. The write-ups block asks for the candidate's projects, area of interest, reason for wanting to intern at FSSAI, and preferred month of commencement, and the circular reserves the right to call for a short write-up or presentation again in the portal at the final selection stage (FSSAI internship circular, June 2026).

Final submission is one way. No edits are permitted afterwards, and the portal leaves only a view-and-print copy of the form (FSSAI application instructions).

Tracking an FSSAI Application After the Final Submit

A submitted form does not turn into a progress bar anywhere. The application code reaches the registered email address after a save or a submit (FSSAI application instructions), and an SMS carrying the same reference as an Applicant Id goes to the mobile number on the form, which is why the portal asks candidates to enter only a working mobile number (FSSAI internship portal).

That id is unique to the candidate and it is what carries the application. Before the final submit it can be used to reopen and change the form any number of times, with only the latest version stored; afterwards it opens a view-and-print copy, and FSSAI's help desk asks for it on any correspondence about the application (FSSAI internship portal).

The outcome arrives as a document rather than a status. The final list of selected candidates, with the date of joining and the internship tenure, is declared online, and the list for the July to September 2026 quarter went up as a signed notice setting out each intern's name and Application ID against the division they were allotted (FSSAI shortlist notice).

Queries have exactly one route. FSSAI directs students to internship-fssai@fssai.gov.in and says that address alone is to be used for anything relating to the internship programme (FSSAI internship circular).

How winners are picked

Selection process

Nodal officers do the sifting. Every application is scrutinised by the nodal officers nominated for internship in the divisions concerned, and candidates may be required to submit a short write-up or presentation in the application portal for final selection (FSSAI internship advertisement).

A stated preference is not an allocation. FSSAI says the area a candidate names in the application is indicative of preference only, and not a confirmation of placement in that department.

The July to September 2026 round shows how narrow the funnel is. Against 11,160 applications, the notice approved by the Competent Authority carries 91 names on the final list and 75 on the waitlist, which FSSAI said it would draw from only once the joining of the selected interns had been finalised (FSSAI shortlist notice).

That notice is also where a selected candidate learns who they report to. Each block of names carries a nodal officer with a designation and a direct fssai.gov.in address, from a Deputy Director in the Human Resource Division at FDA Bhawan to the Food Analyst at the Raxaul extension centre (FSSAI shortlist notice).

Fine print

Terms & conditions

Joining is not negotiable by much. Because the scheme is scheduled quarterly through the year, FSSAI states that a request from an intern to extend the joining time by more than a week will not be accepted (FSSAI internship advertisement).

The report is the deliverable, not attendance alone. An intern is attached to one division, assigned projects related to aspects of food and nutrition management processes, and both the stipend recommendation and the certificate turn on that final report or presentation being submitted and reviewed (FSSAI internship circular).

Living costs sit entirely with the intern. A posting to Delhi, Ghaziabad, Kolkata, Chennai or Raxaul comes without accommodation, boarding or a travel allowance, which is the real constraint for an out-of-state candidate weighing a term against a rented room in the same city.

Get help

Contact

For anything about the programme before selection, FSSAI names one address and asks students to use only that: internship-fssai@fssai.gov.in (FSSAI internship circular).

The scheme is run out of the Human Resource Division at FSSAI headquarters, FDA Bhawan, Kotla Road, New Delhi 110002 (FSSAI internship circular).

After selection the correspondence moves. Each intern deals with the nodal officer named against their division in the shortlist notice, whether that is at headquarters, the northern regional office at Ghaziabad, the southern regional office at Chennai, the eastern regional office at Kolkata, or one of the National Food Laboratories (FSSAI shortlist notice).

Source

Official links

Frequently asked questions

From the official scheme FAQ (myScheme)

Read this

Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Scheme details are compiled from myScheme, the Government of India’s official scheme-discovery platform, and are reproduced without alteration. Amounts, deadlines and eligibility change between cycles, so always confirm on the official links above before applying. Expertie does not process applications or charge fees.

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References

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