For the past many months the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has been working on new standards for edible oil. The FSSAI has also been working with BIS as FSSAI would like to use the new standards to ensure that safe oil is provided to the consumer. Having just one standard across the full spectrum of edible oils would help to prevent overlapping of standards. It would also prevent a repetition of standards as there are several agencies that work for food safety.
The final draft is almost ready and the moment it is released, product certification would begin. All packaged edible oils that are being sold in all retail outlets Pan India would now be marked with the new ISI standards. Earlier edible oil was marked with AGMARK but they have withdrawn from framing the standards for edible oil henceforth AGMARK would like to concentrate solely on their raw product portfolio and are no longer inclined to make standards for manufactured agricultural products.
Before the standards are implemented there will be a meeting for the benefit of all stake holders to discuss the new regulation. The transition methods are likely to be discussed and a road map would be drawn up so that the standards can be implemented in a smooth manner. A time frame for the implementation of the new regulation would also be taken up at the meeting. Any concerns of the stakeholders would also be addressed during this meeting that is likely to be held next month.
BIS would like the transition from the old BIS standard to the new ISI standard for edible oil to be a smooth one and hence they have been coordinating with FSSAI throughout. Several high level meetings have been conducted with the officials of the apex food regulator so that just one set of standards can be made applicable for all packaged edible oils in India.
BIS has also made standards for street food and tap water as well. It has taken up the matter of implementation of new standards for tap water with the Urban Development Department. Street food comes under the jurisdiction of the food safety department of the various states and they will be the authority to implement the new BIS standards for street food.
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