Overview
- The Health and Family Welfare Department formalised the ban via Notification No. 2065 dated January 21, 2026, replacing a 2013 order.
- Regulation 2.3.4 under the Food Safety and Standards rules bars use of tobacco or nicotine in any food product, including paired sachets sold for mixing.
- The prohibition spans manufacturing through sale for items such as gutkha, pan masala, zarda and khaini, while cigarettes and bidis fall outside this order.
- Enforcement will involve special squads and district drug inspectors with actions that include seizures, licence cancellations and prosecutions under food-safety law.
- Officials cite IARC cancer classifications and GATS data showing roughly 42% of adults in Odisha use smokeless tobacco, nearly twice the national average.