The FSSAI recently published the final notification for the Food Safety and Standards (Vegan Foods) Regulations, 2022, specifying what constitutes vegan food.
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The Food Standards Safety Association of India (FSSAI) recently published the final notification for the Food Safety and Standards (Vegan Foods) Regulations, 2022, specifying what constitutes vegan food and what kind of labelling/packaging will be required for it and the compliances for Food Business Operators too.
The draft of these Food Safety and Standards (Vegan Foods) Regulations, 2021, was published on 6th September 2021. Thereby, the objections and suggestions were sought from the public. Now the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has issued the final regulations.
What is Vegan Food?
The FSSAI notification defined “vegan food” as the food or food ingredient, including additives, flavourings, enzymes and carriers, or processing aids that are not products of animal origin and in which, at no stage of production and processing, ingredients, including additives, flavourings, enzymes and carriers, or processing aids that are of animal origin has been used.
“No person shall manufacture, pack, sell, offer for sale, market or otherwise distribute or import any food as vegan food unless they comply with the requirements laid down under these regulations,” the government said, adding, “The food products to be called vegan, shall not have involved animal testing for any purpose including safety evaluation, unless provided by any Regulatory Authority.”
“We are also ensuring that every packaging material used for vegan foods shall comply with the provisions of the packaging regulations and the Food Business Operator (FBO) shall ensure that all stages of production, processing and distribution shall be designed to take the appropriate precautions in conformity with the Good Manufacturing Practices in such a way to avoid the unintended presence of non-vegan substances,” said an official.
Most important, there shall be traceability established up to the manufacturer level and the Food Business Operator shall comply with any other requirements specified by the Food Authority to maintain the vegan integrity of the foods or food ingredients or products thereof from time to time, the official said.
General Requirements for Vegan Foods FBOs
(1) No person shall manufacture, pack, sell, offer for sale, market or otherwise distribute or import any food as vegan food unless they comply with the requirements laid down under these regulations.
(2) The food products to be called vegan shall not have involved animal testing for any purpose, including safety evaluation, unless provided by any Regulatory Authority.
(3) Every packaging material used for vegan foods shall comply with the provisions of the packaging regulations.
(4) The Food Business Operator shall ensure that all stages of production, processing and distribution shall be designed to take the appropriate precautions in conformity with the Good Manufacturing Practices in such a way to avoid the unintended presence of non-vegan substances.
(5) If the same production line is shared with non-vegan products or ingredients, thorough cleaning or comparable measures in conformity with Good Manufacturing Practices shall be carried out before production of vegan products commences, and the same shall extend to all associated machinery, equipment, utensils and surfaces.
(6) The Food Business Operator shall take appropriate precautions in conformity with the Good Manufacturing Practices before vegan products are prepared, produced or packaged.
(7) There shall be traceability established up to the manufacturer level, and the Food Business Operator shall comply with any other requirements specified by the Food Authority to maintain the vegan integrity of the foods or food ingredients or products thereof from time to time.
(8) Every vegan food or ingredient shall comply with the relevant provisions, as applicable under the Act, rules and regulations.
Labelling & Display Requirements for Vegan Foods
(1) The seller of vegan food either exclusively or as part of retail merchandise shall store and display such food in a manner distinguishable from non-vegan food.
(2) Every package of vegan foods, after the approval, shall carry the logo as specified below:
(3) In addition to the specified requirements, all vegan foods shall comply with the packaging and labelling requirements specified under the Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020, except clause (b) of sub-regulation (4) of regulation 5.
Vegan Food Compliance
(1) The Food Business Operator shall submit an application to the concerned licensing Authority with all necessary details in a format specified by the Food Authority.
(2) The Food Authority may specify guidelines for approval of the vegan logo.
(3) No vegan food products shall be imported except with a certificate issued by the recognised authorities of the exporting countries in the format specified by the Authority.
Notification can be downloaded by CLICKING THIS LINK.
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