Food firms scramble for experienced safety professionals as demand soars

New Delhi: India’s food industry is facing a shortage of food-safety professionals, especially experienced ones, with employers struggling to find candidates who can independently handle inspections, audits and regulatory compliance amid heightened scrutiny of safety and hygiene standards.

Job postings for dedicated food-safety professionals on professionals networking platform Apna rose 94.4% in the second quarter ended September, after a 48.4% jump in the first quarter. The number of employers hiring for these roles rose 74.2% in the September quarter, while the number of cities with such postings increased 42.3%.

But the supply is struggling to keep up with the demand, staffing firms noted.


While 59.5% of Apna’s food-safety postings required prior experience, they attracted nearly 12% fewer applications than fresher-accessible roles. Further, only 50% or even lower of the applicants met the requirements, highlighting a big gap in availability of experienced professionals who can manage food-safety and compliance requirements at scale.

“While trained talent is available in the market, the challenge is the limited pool of candidates with relevant operational experience,” said Deepesh Gupta, head of general staffing at Adecco India.

The surge in demand for food-safety professionals comes amid increased regulatory scrutiny and enforcement across the country. The enforcement push has been particularly visible in Maharashtra, where the state FDA suspended the licences of 31 food establishments after inspections between September 28 and 30, while separate raids in Nashik seized food products worth more than ₹5.8 crore ahead of the festive season.

“Food safety compliance is required to be adhered to at each step,” said Biplab Lenin, partner at law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, pointing to requirements spanning procurement, labelling, manufacturing, handling, packaging, storage, sale, distribution, and even advertising.

“A certified food safety supervisor may not be able to cover all such direct and indirect compliances,” making dedicated food-safety compliance verticals harder to avoid, he said.

The shortage of experienced hands is also pushing up pay. The median upper salary for roles requiring at least three years’ experience was ₹43,500 a month, an 89% premium over ₹23,000 for roles open to freshers, according to Apna.

Food processing and manufacturing accounted for 65.5% of postings related to food safety professionals, with quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) professionals alone accounting for 61.8% of demand within the sector, Apna said.

Quick commerce, e-grocery and fresh produce accounted for 8.6%, while restaurants, QSRs, cloud kitchens and catering contributed 6.9%.

“Employers are placing quality capability within the operations that produce, handle, and serve food,” Kartik Narayan, chief executive for jobs marketplace at Apna, said.

Across all sectors, QA/QC roles made up 51.7% of dedicated food-safety postings.

The roles in demand also include food-testing specialists, including chemists, microbiologists and laboratory staff, food technologists, food-safety supervisors and officers, auditors and inspectors, trainers, and regulatory or FSSAI compliance specialists.

Employers are primarily seeking candidates with degrees in food technology, food science, or dairy technology, alongside FoSTaC training for food-safety supervision, HACCP training in identifying and controlling food-safety hazards, ISO 22000 training in food-safety management systems, and lead-auditor qualifications for auditing such systems.

Adecco’s Gupta said 60-65% of current food-safety professional hires on the platform are being sourced from other food businesses, 20-25% from adjacent functions and sectors such as quality analysis, quality control, R&D, product development, cold chain, compliance, audits among others, and 15-20% from freshers and entry-level talent.

The squeeze is also lengthening hiring cycles. Gupta said hiring timelines have risen 20-25% over the past 12-18 months.

Varun Sachdeva, APAC head at talent solutions firm NLB Services, expects festive season demand for food-safety professionals to rise 20-25%, driven by higher food volumes, tighter inspections and greater focus on quality and handling standards.

The legal risk is adding to the urgency.

“A third-party audit is a compliance tool, not by itself a legal defence,” Lenin of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas said, noting that liability for violations remains with the licensed food business operator. High turnover among contract staff can also create gaps in training and medical-fitness records, traceability and corrective-action logs, he said.