Legal Standard For Food Industry

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), established under Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, is responsible for framing the standards and regulating the manufacturing, storage, distribution, sale and import of food products to safeguard the interests of the consumer. It is also liable for laying down the procedure and guidelines for accreditation of testing laboratories and certification bodies.

The FSS act is a pail for all the previously existing rules and regulations for food safety; it took the following older acts into one umbrella:

• Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954
• Fruit Products Order, 1955
• Meat Food Products Order, 1973
• Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order, 1947
• Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation) Order 1988
• Solvent Extracted Oil, De- Oiled Meal and Edible Flour (Control) Order, 1967
• Milk and Milk Products Order, 1992
• 
• The standards laid down by FSSAI are stipulated under the following:
  1. Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulation, 2011
  2. Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Regulation, 2011
  3. Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restriction on Sales) Regulation, 2011
  4. Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labeling) Regulation, 2011
  5. Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, Toxins and Residues) Regulation, 2011
  6. Food Safety and Standards (Laboratory and Sampling Analysis) Regulation, 2011
  7. Food Safety and Standards (Food or Health Supplements, Nutraceuticals, Foods for Special
     Dietary Uses, Foods for Special Medical Purpose, Functional Foods and Novel Food)
     Regulations, 2016
  8. Food Safety and Standards (Food Recall Procedure) Regulation, 2017
  9. Food Safety and Standards (Import) Regulation, 2017
  10. Food Safety and Standards (Approval for Non-Specified Food and Food Ingredients)
      Regulations, 2017.

  The FSSAI has prescribed standards for milk and milk products, cocoa powder, fruits and vegetable products, spices, fats, oils and emulsions, cereal and cereal products, meat and meat products, beverages, flavouring compounds, proprietary food, sweets and confectionery,etc.

  An analysis of the packaging and labelling regulations shows that there are various kinds of products – pre-packaged Products, proprietary products and specific products as mentioned in the regulation. Some of the requirements for the packaging and labelling of food products listed in the compendium are as follows:

  • The declaration required under the regulation on the package should be either in Hindi or
    English.
  • Pre-packaged food on the label shall not be presented or described on any label or in any
    manner that is misleading, false or deceptive.
  • Ingredients should be mentioned in a descending order on the label.
  • Contents on the label shall be prominent, clear, indelible and readily legible by consumers
    under normal circumstances of purchase and use.
  • The label must have MRP, date of manufacturing, date of expiry, batch number and net
    weight clearly mentioned on it.

  The preamble of FSS Act lays emphasis on all the laws related to food products and with the
  collaboration of FSSAI and food manufacturers, India can definitely become a hotspot for all the global
  food industries.