Public comments invited on the Draft Food Safety and Standards (Labelling & Display) Amendment Regulations, 2022 by 13th November, 2022

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has proposed the Draft Food Safety and Standards (Labelling & Display) Amendment Regulations, 2022 (“Draft Amendment”) with a view to further amend the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling & Display) Regulations, 2020.

Key Highlights:

1. The Draft Amendment proposes to include comprehensive definitions of  “Front-of-pack nutrition labelling (FOPNL)” which is a “form of supplementary nutrition information that presents simplified nutrition information on the front-of-pack of pre-packaged foods” and  “High fat, sugar, salt (HFSS) food” which is “a processed food product having high levels of saturated fat or total sugar or sodium”;
2. The Draft Amendment also proposes declaration of the content percentage of Fruits, Vegetable, Nuts, Legumes & Millets in the food product, if present and inclusion of information regarding dietary fibre per 100g or 100ml on the food nutrition label;
3. Further, the Amendment proposes to introduce a new chapter regarding “Indian Nutrition Rating (INR)” which is a system that rates the overall nutritional profile for packaged food by assigning it a rating from ½ star (least healthy) to 5 stars (healthiest). More stars indicate that the food product is better positioned to provide for daily human need of nutrients. A Food Business Operator as per the Draft Amendment is required to generate their respective INR score and the logo by submitting their product’s relevant nutrient profile in the FoSCoS system;
4. The baseline reference values, categories, size, format, colour codes, etc. of the INR Logo have also been prescribed in the Draft Amendment in a detailed manner.

Objections or suggestions in this regard, if any, may be addressed to the Chief Executive Officer, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, FDA Bhawan, Kotla Road, New Delhi- 110002 or sent by e-mail at (regulation@fssai.gov.in) by 13th November, 2022.

[Note: Compliance with these Regulations will be voluntary until a period of 48 months from the date of final notification of these Regulations and mandatory thereafter.]

A Copy of the Notification is linked below for ease of reference.

Source: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India