The FSSAI has issued Gazette Notification dated 2 September 2020 to amend Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 related to new standards for low lactose/lactose free milk and dairy permeate powder and definition of mozzarella cheese.
REGULATIONS
These regulations may be called the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Sixth Amendment Regulations, 2020. They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette and Food Business Operator shall comply with all the provisions of these regulations by 1st July, 2021.
In the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, in regulation 2.1 DAIRY PRODUCTS AND ANALOGUES under the category “Standard for Milk‟ (2.1.2) the FSSAI has included standards for
Low Lactose or Lactose free milk
Description – Low Lactose or Lactose free milk means the product prepared from any type of milk specified in sub-item (a), (b) and (c) above, in which, lactose content has been reduced significantly through hydrolysis by enzymatic or any other appropriate process. The fat and SNF content of milk used for preparation shall conform to the respective composition given in table under sub-item (b) of item 2. The product may be subjected to pasteurization, boiling, sterilisation or ultra-high temperature and shall conform to the following requirements
- “Low lactose milk” shall have less than 1% lactose
- “Lactose free milk” shall have less than 0.1% lactose”
Under “Labelling‟ (6) after sub-item (a), the following sub-item shall be inserted, namely – “(aa) In case of low lactose or lactose free milk, the name of the product may be Low Lactose or Lactose Free………………….milk, wherein the blank will be filled by the name of the respective milk from which it is prepared.”
Under sub-regulation “Standard for Cheese and Cheese Products‟ (2.1.17), under category 1, in subitem (a) definition for mozzarella cheese has been added which is as follows “(aq) “Mozzarella cheese” means un-ripened cheese obtained by coagulating milk with cultures of harmless lactic acid producing bacteria, suitable enzymes of non-animal origin or by direct acidification. It is a smooth elastic cheese with a long stranded parallel-orientated fibrous protein structure without evidence of curd granules. The cheese is rindless and may be formed into various shapes.
- Mozzarella with a high moisture content is a soft cheese with overlying layers that may form pockets containing liquid of milky appearance. The cheese has a near white colour.
- Mozzarella with low moisture content is a firm or semi-hard homogeneous cheese without holes and is suitable for shredding. Mozzarella is made by „pasta filata‟ processing, which consists of heating curd of a suitable pH value kneading and stretching until the curd is smooth and free from lumps. Still warm, the curd is cut and moulded, then firmed by cooling.”
FSSAI has also added the standards of dairy permeate powder which is as follows
2.1.24 Standards for Dairy Permeate Powders
This Standard applies to Dairy permeate powder as defined in item 1 of this sub regulation.
This standard should be read along with sub-regulation 2.1.1 relating to General Standard for Milk and Milk
- Description.
(a) “Dairy permeate powders” are dried milk products characterised by a high content of lactose
- manufactured from permeates which are obtained by removing, through the use of membrane filtration, and to the extent practical, milk fat and milk protein, but not lactose, from milk, whey, cream or sweet buttermilk or both, or from similar raw materials; or
- obtained by other processing techniques involving removal of milk fat and milk protein, but not lactose, from the same raw materials listed under entry (a) and resulting in an end-product with the same composition as specified in entry (c) of item 2.
(b) “whey permeate powder” is the dairy permeate powder manufactured from whey permeate obtained by removing whey protein, but not lactose, from whey.
(c) “milk permeate powder” is the dairy permeate powder manufactured from milk permeate.
- Essential composition and quality factors
(a) Raw materials
- Dairy permeate powders: milk permeate, whey permeate, cream permeate, sweet buttermilk permeate and/or similar lactose-containing milk products
- whey permeate powder: whey permeate
- milk permeate powder: milk permeate
(b) Permitted ingredients – Seed lactose in the manufacture of pre-crystallised products.
(c) Composition
Parameters |
Dairy permeate powder |
Whey permeate powder |
Milk permeate powder |
(1) |
(2) |
(3) |
(4) |
Lactose, anhydrous*, minimum, %, (m/m) |
76.0% |
76.0% |
76.0% |
Maximum nitrogen, (m/m) |
1.1% |
1.1% |
0.8% |
Milk Fat, maximum, %, (m/m) |
1.5% |
1.5% |
1.5% |
Ash, Maximum, (m/m) |
14.0% |
12.0% |
12.0% |
Moisture**, maximum, %, (m/m) |
5.0% |
5.0% |
5.0% |
Scorched particles, maximum |
Disc B |
Disc B |
Disc B |
* Although the products may contain both anhydrous lactose and lactose monohydrate, the lactose content is expressed as anhydrous lactose. 100 parts of lactose monohydrate contains 95 parts of anhydrous lactose.
** The moisture content does not include the water of crystallization of the lactose.
Food Additives
- For products covered under this standard, specific food additives permitted in Appendix “A‟ of these regulations may be used and only within the limits specified.
- Safe and suitable processing aids may be used under condition of good manufacturing practices. These may also include substances (hydrochloric acid, calcium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide) changing the pH to improve process efficiency such as flux rates and preventing fouling in product streams.
Hygiene
The products shall conform to the microbiological requirements specified for milk powders in Appendix “B‟ of these regulations.
Labelling
(a) According to the composition in sub-item (c) of item 2, the name of the food shall be “lactose-rich deproteinized ………………permeate powder” where the blank may be filled with the term dairy, milk or whey, as appropriate to the nature of the product.”
Source : FSSAI
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