Introduction
What is Food Safety and
Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)?
FSSAI
is an autonomous body established under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare,
Government of India. The FSSAI has been established under the Food Safety and Standards
Act, 2006 which is a consolidating statute related to food safety and
regulation in India. FSSAI is responsible
for protecting and promoting public health through the regulations and
supervision of food safety.
FSSAI had come out with draft of New Labelling
and Display Regulations in 2018
What were the display
regulations?
The FSSAI
had proposed new regulations in April 2018 called the Food Safety and Standards
(Labelling and Display) regulations which prescribed red label- marking on such
packaged food products which are high in fat, sugar and salt contents. The front
of the pack red label mark was aimed to make consumers more aware about healthy
and unhealthy food products.
What were the issues
with the draft?
Union Health Ministry had put on hold on the draft
regulations, after industry stakeholders had expressed concerns, citing that it
may have an adverse impact on evolving packaged food industry. So address their
concerns FSSAI has decided to set up B Sesikeran committee to look food
labelling standards in to the draft regulations.
Conclusion
India can learn from best practices from other countries
like Denmark, Norway and Singapore on labelling regulations. These countries labelling
regulations are brilliant they assure consumer about even small details over food
packaging. FSSAI has shown concern and attempt to begin dialogue among stake holders on proposed
draft labelling regulations. Moreover, recently, several companies had pledged
to FSSAI’s Eat Right Movement and have made voluntary commitments to reduce
salt, sugar and fat in their products. FSSAI in future is likely to push more
and more companies to make similar voluntary commitments.
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