Jan 26, 2016

Ingredient-based approval for proprietary foods likely

In a bid to clear the confusion over definition of proprietary food items, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has come up with a new description on Monday. According to it, proprietary food items, prepared using standardised ingredients, are permitted for consumption. The new regulation is a step towards the global practice of ingredient-based product approval, which is in place in countries such as USA, UK and Singapore among others.
"Proprietary food shall contain only those ingredients other than additives which are either standardised in these regulations or permitted for use in the preparation of other standardised food under these regulations," FSSAI said in the notification. It, however, has retained the existing list of food additives to be used in proprietary foods.
According to Ashish Prasad, partner, Economy Law Practice, the definition of non-standardised foods in the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 had much scope for clarification. "The recent definition is a balanced one which got rid of ambiguity. While, it clarifies the ingredients and additives to be used in proprietary foods, it also excludes novel and functional foods, nutraceutical and health supplements from its purview," he said.
Experts say the lack of a list of approved ingredients has led to confusion.
According to Gowree Gokhale, partner, Nishith Desai Associates, the global practice is to have two lists of approved ingredients, indicating permissible limits and labelling guidelines, and banned items. This would help cover all segments of the sector, she says. But in India, the product approval regime till recently pertained to final food products, not food ingredients and additives.
FSSAI is currently preparing a separate guideline for nutraceutical and novel food items which has now been separated from proprietary foods.

Implement new relaxed regulations, FSSAI tells state regulators

FSSAI says products for which standards have not been framed but have ingredients already approved by it, may not require any approval
New Delhi: In a bid to ease product approval system, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has asked all state food regulators to implement the new relaxed norms for those items wherein standards have not been laid down so far.
FSSAI had earlier this month said that products for which standards have not been framed but have ingredients and additives that are approved by the regulator, may not require any approval.
The FSSAI has laid down quality standards for 370 products. Its approval is a must for all other products, which are also known as proprietary food.
The notification, dated 12 January, was issued to amend the Food Safety and Standards Regulations. The central food safety regulator has issued a circular, dated 14 January, directing all the state food regulators to implement the new relaxed norms for product approval process.
In the notification, the regulator said, “Proprietary food shall contain only those ingredients other than additives which are either standardised in these regulations or permitted for use in the preparation of other standardized food under these regulations.”
The notification also adds that the proprietary food shall use only such additives as specified for the category to which the food belongs and it shall be clearly mentioned on the label. However, it has also been clarified that the food business operator shall be fully responsible for the safety of the proprietary food.
These new norms will not apply to novel food, food for special dietary use, functional food, nutraceutical and health supplement articles of food.

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