Govt plans to do away with multiple certifications for food products. The move aims to promote ease of doing business by embracing the concept of “One Nation, One Commodity, One Regulator.”
The government has approved various amendments to food safety and standard regulations, streamlining the certification process for food products to only require approval from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
It is reported that a draft notification on these changes will be issued by the FSSAI, allowing stakeholders to provide feedback before the amendments are finalized. If implemented, certifications from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and AGMARK will no longer be obligatory for food products.
The Health Ministry, in an official statement, announced that the 43rd meeting of the FSSAI, chaired by Union Health Secretary Apurva Chandra, approved these amendments. According to the ministry, only FSSAI certification will be mandatory for food products after the amendments are finalized. This move is geared towards promoting ease of doing business, embracing the concept of ‘One Nation, One Commodity, One Regulator.’
“Various amendments across different food safety and standards regulations were approved in the meeting to do away with Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) or AGMARK certification for food products,” the statement said.
After the amendments are finalised, food businesses would not have to go to different authorities for mandatory certification with only FSSAI certification being made mandatory for food products.
Other approvals include standards of Mead (Honey wine) and Alcoholic Ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages, revision of standards of milk fat products, standards for Haleem etc.
The authority also approved a comprehensive manual of methods of analysis for ensuring regulatory compliance of the food products. The amendments across different Food Safety and Standards Regulations were approved in the meeting for draft notification to invite stakeholder comments before finalisation.
These regulations included the revision of standards of Milk Fat Products, as part of which the fatty acid requirements for Ghee will also be applicable to other milk fat products.
The authority will also set standards for ‘Haleem’ as part of standards for meat products. Haleem is a dish made of meat, pulses, grains and other ingredients, which currently don’t have any set standards.
G Kamala Vardhana Rao, CEO, FSSAI; officials from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Law and Justice, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises; States and Union Territories attended the meeting. Representatives from industry associations, consumer organizations, research institutes and farmers’ organisations were also present in the meeting.
