Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)

Subject – Governance

Context – FSSAI is looking at tightening the labelling norms for pan masala

Concept –

It proposes to bring in amendments in the labelling and display regulations to make health warning more visible on pan masala packs.
According to the draft amendments, the FSSAI has proposed that the health warning must cover 50 per cent of the front of the pack of products. It is mandatory for pan masala packs to carry the health warning ‘chewing of pan masala is injurious to health’.
Unlike cigarette packs, so far there was no labelling regulation regarding the size and display of the health warning on pan masala products.

Nomenclature for breads –

The draft is also proposing changes in the nomenclature of breads with the proliferation of various kinds of breads on retail shelves.
The food safety authority is looking to set standards for the minimum amount of speciality ingredients, such as whole wheat, multi-grains or milk, that need to be added to the flour used for making bread.
According to the draft, bread makers will be allowed to label their product as whole wheat bread only if it is made of flour comprising at least 75 per cent of whole wheat flour.
Similarly, to be able to label a product as wheat bread or brown bread, it needs to be made with at least 50 per cent whole grain flour.
In the flour used to make multi-grain bread, at least 20 per cent of the grains used should be those other than wheat.
The draft amendments also propose to bring in changes in the labelling norms for other kind of speciality breads such as milk bread, oatmeal bread, bran bread, raisin bread, garlic bread, oregano bread, and fruit bread, among others.

About FSSAI –

It is an autonomous statutory body that maintains the food safety and standards in India.
FSSAI is administered by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
The Body is functional as per the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
The FSSAI has its headquarters at New Delhi. The authority also has 6 regional offices located in Delhi, Guwahati, Mumbai, Kolkata, Cochin, and Chennai.
The FSSAI comprises of a Chairperson and twenty two members out of which one – third are to be women.
The Chairperson of FSSAI is appointed by the Central Government.
Food Safety and Standards Rule, 2011 provides for:
- The Food Safety Appellate Tribunal and the Registrar of the Appellate Tribunal, for adjudication of food safety cases.
- It covers Licensing and Registration, Packaging and Labelling of Food Businesses, Food Product Standards and Food Additives Regulation.
- It prohibits and restricts on sales or approval for Non-Specified Food and Food Ingredients, such ingredients may cause harm to human health.
- It provides for Food Safety and Standards on Organic Food and regulates Food Advertising.

Important Initiatives by FSSAI

Eat Right India – It is a Pan-India cycle movement called as ‘Swasth Bharat Yatra’ aimed to create consumer awareness about eating safe and nutritious food.
Clean Street Food –This involves training the street food vendors and making them aware of the violations as per the FSS Act 2006.
Diet4Life –This is another initiative taken by FSSAI, to spread awareness about metabolic disorders.
Save Food, Share Food, Share Joy –Encouraging people to avoid food wastage and promote food donation. Through this, FSSAI intends to connect food-collecting agencies with the food-producing companies and share the food with the ones in need.
Heart Attack Rewind – It is the first mass media campaign of FSSAI. It is aimed to support FSSAI’s target of eliminating trans fat in India by the year 2022.
FSSAI-CHIFSS – It is collaboration between FSSAI and CII-HUL Initiative on Food Safety Sciences to promote collaborations between Industry, Scientific Community, Academia for food safety.