The labels present on packaged food products, help us to make informed purchasing choices. They convey vital information to consumers that influence their choice of food items purchased for consumption. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (“FSSAI”) is the authority responsible for ensuring and maintaining highest food safety standards in packaged food products. The authority lays down regulations and guidelines that are to be complied by a Food Business Operator (“FBO”). Over the preceding six months the focus of the Government has been on bringing out regulations and guidelines which aim at protecting the interests of consumers, thereby enabling them to make informed, accurate and healthy choices when purchasing packaged food products. Specifically, we have seen several amendments to the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations 2020 (“Regulation”) that casts additional compliance burden on FBOs. Having a compliance management tool goes a long way in helping FBOs in keeping abreast with the changing regulatory regime.
This blog addresses the critical amendments to the Regulation impacting FBOs in India.
Applicability:
The amendments are applicable to FBOs involved in any activity pertaining to packaged food products, irrespective of what stage of manufacture, packaging, processing, storage, distribution, transportation, import and/ or sale the FBO is involved in.
The amendments have also rolled out a host of new compliances under labelling requirements applicable to E-commerce Industries selling packaged food items on their platforms, which have to be complied with by 1st July 2022.
Critical Compliances to be adhered to by FBOs under the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020.
1. Labelling declaration to now be displayed on Ecommerce platforms too: Every E-commerce entity as well as direct selling entity, selling packaged food products, must display the mandatory labelling declarations on the platform, when selling such packaged food items to the consumer via their platform.
2. Food package to declare exact nature of the food item: Every FBO, must display the actual contents of the food package. The name must indicate the true nature of the food item. Displaying just the brand name on the front of the food package is no longer acceptable and is to be considered non-compliant.
3. Allergen Information to be declared on food item package: The Regulation mandates declaration of Food Allergens on packaged food items. Food allergens are certain food items or ingredients known to cause allergy when consumed. Cereals containing gluten, crustacean, milk and its products, eggs and egg products, fish and fish products, peanuts, tree nuts, soybean, and sulphite in concentration of 10mg/kg or more fall under the Food Allergens list.
4. Declaration of health and nutrient information on food item package: The per serve percentage of contribution of a particular food item to RDA (“Recommended Dietary Allowance”) of energy, fat, sugar, and salt has to be declared on the food label.
5. New Non-Vegetarian Logo to be displayed: A new non-vegetarian logo has been introduced, which is a symbol, displaying a brown color filled triangle inside a brown outline square on every non- vegetarian food item package.
6. New symbol to be displayed on food items not meant for human consumption: Packages of food items, not meant for human consumption must now bear a symbol on the package, which is a black cross sign inside a black outline square.
7. Wholesale, industrial, and institutional food packages must now be labelled with specific details: The ambiguity regarding what needs to be mentioned on the label of wholesale, industrial or institutional food packages has been addressed and clarified through these new amendments. Declarations such as nature of the food inside the package, its net quantity, FSSAI logo, FSSAI License Number, lot number, expiry date, name and address of brand owner, manufacturer or packer, a statement specifying that the instant food item package is not meant for retail sale has to be displayed on such wholesale, industrial and institutional food packages.
8. Name and address of Brand Owner must be displayed on the food item package: All food item packages to now display name and complete address of the brand owner.
9. Date and time of manufacture to be displayed on the packed meals served in Airlines/ Railways: The packaged meals served in Airlines as well as Railways must display the date and time at which the meal was manufactured.
10. Expiry Date to be declared: The Best Before Date displayed on a food package is now optional and display of Date of Expiry of a packaged food item is mandatory for all FBOs.
11. Ingredients such as added water, admixture of oil, plant stanols to be declared: Specific compliances have been introduced regarding manner of declaration on a food package if the food item contains, added water, or is an admixture of oil, or contains plant stanols.
The newly amended Regulation will have a significant impact on the food business industry in India. Both consumers as well as FBOs are individually as well as collectively impacted. Concerns have been raised from different quarters of the food industry on the newly introduced amendments to the Regulation. To name a few, issues with the increased font size of the content displayed on the food packages have been raised as the back of a food package does not have adequate space to display all the additional information newly mandated to be displayed by the FSSAI. The display of information on declaration of salt and sugar in packaged food items has also been questioned on the grounds that it is difficult for the common man to assimilate and comprehend. The FSSAI, basis these representations and requests decided to extend the timeline for compliance to the amendments by FBOs to July 2022 in order to alleviate the concerns of the food industry. The FSSAI, by these amendments is demanding more detailed listing and displays of ingredients by FBOs on packaged food items in order to aid consumers in making more informed food choices. The amendments will require FBOs to speedily take stock of and re-align their internal processes in order for them to adhere to the corresponding compliances by July 2022.
Being a FBO, are you aware of these fresh amendments and associated compliances? Is your organization ready to comply with the amended Regulation within 1st July 2022? Are you overwhelmed with the understanding, application and time constraint of these stringent new norms? If yes connect with us NOW! Relying on a compliance management tool simplifies and strengthens an organization’s voluminous compliance programs that govern business, helping the organization to master a complex web of regulations and regulatory changes in India.
We, at Lexplosion Solutions Pvt. Ltd. have been working with FBOs for quite some time now, aiding them in ascertaining, understanding and effectively complying with the applicable regulations as well as new amendments under the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020. Komrisk, Lexplosion’s compliance management software helps companies identify, manage, monitor, and mitigate legal risks emerging from evolving regulations and such aforesaid amendments. Komrisk has been successfully deployed and has been mitigating compliance risk globally for over 14+ years now. To know more about how best we can guide and assist you in identifying, managing monitoring your compliances, old or new, please connect with us now!
Sources:
- https://www.cnbctv18.com/retail/food-packaging-font-size-set-to-be-increased-iim-a-advising-on-pictoral-representations-10988552.htm
- https://www.fssai.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/Licensing_Regulations.pdf
- https://www.fssai.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/Compendium_Labelling_Display_23_09_2021.pdf
Written by: Amanya Gangawat
Co Authored by: Anchal Sharma
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