The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has proposed a Draft Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2015 relating to standards of Food Additive for use in certain Food Categories.
These draft regulations will be finalized as soon as all the comments are received by FSSAI from all stakeholders within the stipulated time limit (sixty days from the date of publish of these draft regulations) and incorporated. After this, the final notification will be issued in the Official Gazette of India and the regulations shall come into force w.e.f. the subsequent 1st January or 1st July of the year subject to a minimum 180 days from the date of final notification.
A food additive is any substance that is not normally consumed as a food by itself, but is added to food for technological purposes during manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packaging etc. so that it becomes a component of the food.
The draft regulation indicates that the entire Regulation 3.1 on Food Additives will replace that of the previous regulations i.e. FSS (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011. Importantly, these new regulations are self-explanatory and user-friendly. The new proposed regulations stipulate the conditions under which food additives may be used in all foods, irrespective of the fact that they were permitted by the 2011 regulations. These regulations also define the food categories as per Food Category Code and consolidated with the data for the use or the restriction of food additives in Foods. The regulations also define the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI), maximum use level, justification for the use of food additives, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) etc.
Specific Directives on Carry-Over of Food Additives into Foods
Additives may not always be added to a food directly, but may be “carried-over” from raw-materials or ingredients used to produce the food. With regard to Carry-Over of Food Additives into Foods, in the 2011 Regulations, the foods for which the carry-over of food additives is unacceptable, has not been stated. However, in the 2015 Draft Regulations, it has been clearly stated that carry-over of food additive from raw material or ingredient is unacceptable in the following:
- Infant formulae
- Follow-up formulae
- Formulae for special medical purposes for infants
- Complementary foods for infants and young children
More user-friendly tabular data
In the 2015 Draft Regulations, the FSSAI has divided the various food additives into Functional Classes, which have been clearly defined and the purpose of use has been clearly delineated. With regard to the use of food additives in food products, both the Food Category Code as well as the INS Numbers are present as per the new draft regulations. However, as per the 2011 Regulations, the list of food additives is sorted by INS No., but Food Category Code is not given. Having both the INS No. and Food Category Code at the same place and in the same table, makes it much more user-friendly and simpler.
Therefore, the FSSAI 2015 Draft Regulations have made some critical changes in the layout of the information. It is envisaged that this will make life much easier for the food business operators (FBOs). They will be able to access the required information in a more systematic and user-friendly manner. It is hoped that when these Draft Regulations become finalized, they will be welcomed by one and all.
To view draft regulations (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Amendment Regulations, 2015
thazhalan says
the new draft regulation is silent on poly sorbates for use in dairy based drinks
Jai.bagga says
Dear sir.
On behalf of JPS consumer products pvt ltd. We want to introduce our self first.
We had just started to work on stevia products for manufacturing but recently we are able to find that stevia is not approved by Food department.
We had started R&D on stevia around 9months back after receiving the gazette of india, MOM, there previous notification etc. Which says Stevia is approved sweetener.
I will request you to please support us on this.
Regards
Jaipreet singh bagga
09717738555