The FSSAI has on 24 January 2019 issued directions regarding the use of Jaivik Bharat Logo and endorsement of FSSAI License. Referring to the Food Safety and Standards (Organic Foods) Regulation, 2017 which was published in the Official Gazette on 29 December 2017, the FSSAI has pointed out that according to this notification the Food Business Operators were required to ensure compliance of their existing and new products with all the provisions of these regulations by 01 July 2018. Also, the FBOs are expected to comply with various regulations notified under the FSS Act, 2006.
- The FSSAI has received various representations from stakeholders and after reviewing the preparedness of the implementation of the Organic Food Regulation, it has been decided that use of the use of FSSAI’s Organic Logo or Jaivik Bharat Logo shall be implemented with effect from 01 April 2019.
- The FSSAI has also decided that the retailers that are dealing with organic foods are also required to endorse their licenses during the renewal process
About Jaivik Bharat Logo
The FSSAI had launched the Jaivik Bharat Logo along with the Organic Regulations. The Jaivik Bharat Logo bears a circle, leaf and a tick mark where the circle represents global holistic wellness, the green leaf represents nature, the tick mark represents the product is FSSAI certified as organic and the green colour represents the environment. The logo has been jointly developed by the FSSAI, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and the Participatory Guarantee System for India (PGS-India) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
The Jaivik Bharat Logo will enable consumers to distinguish organic food products from other non-organic products. Just like the green dot for vegetarian foods and red dot for non-vegetarian foods the encircled green leaf tick will enable consumers to select organic foods easily. Since organic foods have become popular the FSSAI introduced the Jaivik Bharat logo to help customers identify authentic organic food from the inauthentic organic foods being sold in the market.
According to the organic regulations, from 1 July 2018 dealers were permitted to sell organic products only if the labels bore the Jaivik Bharat logo but this has now been extended to 01 April 2019. Any producer or supplier found violating the rule could stand to lose his/her licence and registration after the extended date. To obtain the logo, the product would have to meet specific standards of organic farming like chemical and herbicide free farming and no contamination from neighborhood farms. Organic food producers are permitted to use only natural and sustainable farming practices. Organic Foods are considered authentic organic only if they have Organic Production (NPOP) and Participatory Guarantee System for India (PGS-India) registration certificates. Once the certificates are procured the dealers can then submit these certificates to procure permission to print the logo on the organic products. Besides the requirement of the Jaivik Bharat Logo, the organic foods need to also comply with the labelling and packaging requirements as prescribed in the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011.
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