Through a Gazette Notification dated 29th December, 2020 the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (“FSSAI”) has notified the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Tenth Amendment Regulations, 2020 (“2020 Regulations”) which further amends the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 (“Principal Regulations”).
The 2020 Regulations have gained effect immediately and food business operators have to comply with all the provisions of these regulations by 1st July, 2021 except for the provisions where specific timelines are provided.
Background:
Earlier the draft of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Amendment Regulations, 2018 (Draft Amendment) was made available to the public for public comments and suggestions. Now the objections and suggestions received from the public in respect of the said draft regulations have been considered by FSSAI and the 2020 Regulations have been notified.
While most of the provisions under the present Amendment are the same as the draft there are a few changes worth highlighting :
1. Under Regulation 2.2 for clause 24 which was relating to Blended Edible Vegetable Oil, the same is entirely replaced with a new provision relating to multi sourced edible vegetable oil. The 2020 Regulations has defined it as an admixture of any two edible vegetable oils where the proportion by weight of any edible vegetable oil used in the admixture is not less than 20 per cent. The individual oils in the blend shall conform to the respective standards prescribed by these regulations.
2. “Mineral Water” has also been covered under the purview of “Standards prescribed for packaged drinking water” under “Non Alcoholic Beverages”
3. Standards for processed crab meat, baking powder, egg products, vegetable juices and fruit juices have also been covered under the 2020 Regulations.
Source: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
