Café and HoReCa Schedule 4 hygiene: what fruit-prep kitchens get checked for
When licences pause, menus pause with them. Mint, 25 October 2026, reported seven Mumbai suspensions after Schedule 4 findings: unclean kitchens and drains, mixed veg/non-veg storage, unauthorised food colours, and missing handler medical certificates. For cafés pouring fruit mocktails or plating fruit desserts, the fruit preparation is only as safe as the station around it. Not legal advice.
✅ Café / dessert-shop checklist
- Floors, drains, walls and exhaust clean enough for an unannounced walk-through.
- Veg and non-veg tools and storage separated.
- Food handlers: hair restraints, gloves where required, valid medical certificates.
- Colours only from permitted lists — no informal festive dyes in coolers or syrups.
- Fruit preparations: labelled, dated, stored per brief; clean pumps and jugs — fruit preparations for café drinks.
- Pest-control and cleaning logs available.
Sources
Questions
What is Schedule 4?
It sets sanitary and hygiene requirements for food business operators under FSSAI licensing rules. Inspectors use it as the baseline for kitchens and storage.
Do fruit preparations need different hygiene?
They need the same kitchen discipline plus their own storage temperatures and clean dosing tools. Open fruit bases beside a dirty drain fail both briefs.
What about colours in fruit drinks?
Only permitted colours under food-additive rules. Festive pink coolers are a common risk — see our Diwali mithai colour guide for the shopper angle.
Is this legal advice?
No.