India | Food Safety Africa Magazine

FSSAI issues draft document on vegan foods regulations

Sep 15, 2021Sep 15, 2021 frank

INDIA – India’s regulatory watchdog, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued draft Food Safety and Standards (Vegan Foods) Regulations, 2021, outlining vegan foods and stating compliance requirements in regards to labeling, packaging and a logo exclusively meant for vegan food products. FSSAI’s draft regulations define ‘Vegan Food’ as “ those foods or food ingredients that have not made use of any ingredients, additives and processing aids of animal origin including milk and milk products, fish, poultry and meat, egg or egg products, honey or honey…

FSSAI suspends FBO licenses, introduces front side food packet labeling

Sep 15, 2021Sep 15, 2021 frank

INDIA – The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has suspended the licenses of 15 food business operators in Kerala as they failed to comply with the requisite mandatory safety audits despite repeated reminders. The FSSAI had earlier directed carrying out of audits of Food Business Operators (FBOs) through private auditing agencies, in bid to strengthen the food safety oversight system. The move also sought to cultivate and foster a self-compliance culture. The regulator said in a statement that even after repeated intimation and issuance of improvement notices…

Bureau of Indian Standards to establish quality standards for fortified rice processing machines

Sep 10, 2021Sep 10, 2021 frank

INDIA – The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), is looking to set quality standards for machines that make fortified rice kernels, as the country aims to tackle malnutrition by stepping up efforts to provide fortified rice through various government programmes. Rice fortification is done in order to increase essential micronutrients in rice to improve the nutritional quality of the food supply. In India, rice is fortified largely by using extrusion technology. Under the extrusion process, milled rice is first pulverized and mixed with a premix containing vitamins and minerals. Fortified…

FSSAI directs states to probe violations of milk, dairy labelling norms

Sep 8, 2021Sep 8, 2021 frank

INDIA – The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), has directed state food safety departments to look into and identify specific instances of violation by ecommerce platforms, claiming their plant-based products as ‘milk’. The new rule could impact new-age brands and direct-to-consumer (D2C) dairy alternatives such as Raw Pressery, Epigamia, Urban Platter and Goodmylk, as well as Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) majors such as Sofit (Hershey’s) and Amul. FSSAI ordered the businesses to delist such products from the platform and ensure that no such defaulting products listed…

FSSAI issues directions on Recommended Dietary Allowance for food businesses

Sep 2, 2021Sep 5, 2021 frank

INDIA – The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued a direction regarding the value of Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) for food businesses for reference and compliance following a revision on the requirements by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in 2020. The direction said a collated document referred to as RDA 2020 in respect of new RDA values for vitamins, minerals and amino acids is provided to food businesses for the purpose of reference and compliance. The RDA values of vitamins, minerals and amino acids…

FSSAI awards hygiene certificates to child care centres in India

Aug 31, 2021Aug 31, 2021 frank

INDIA – Twenty-five rural child care centres in India (Anganwadi) of Kanniyakumari district have received Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s Hygiene Rating Certificates based following a review by the authority. Anganwadis were started by the Indian government in 1975 as part of the Integrated Child Development Services program to combat child hunger and malnutrition. According to Collector M. Aravind, the anganwadis, after undergoing rigorous inspection done by the FSSAI team, received the certification for having ensured cleanliness on its premises and serving safe food to the children in…

Food Safety Department heightens food market surveillance as Onam Season closes in

Aug 10, 2021Aug 10, 2021 frank

INDIA – The district wing of the Food Safety Department, India, has beefed up surveillance and deployed special squads to conduct drives in the capital, so as to ensure the availability of good quality food products in the market during Onam season. Onam Season is an annual Hindu harvest festival celebrated in the southern Indian state of Kerala, between August to September. The squads will conduct inspections at manufacturing units, bakery outlets, restaurants, grocery shops and vegetable markets. Kerala’s capital, Thiruvananthapuram, Assistant Commissioner of food safety, Alex K Issac, told…

FSSAI urged to do away with mandatory food fortification

Aug 4, 2021Aug 4, 2021 frank

INDIA – The Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) – Kisan Swaraj has written to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to terminate the plan to make synthetic/chemical fortification of foods mandatory in India. The FSSAI had earlier issued a draft regulation for mandatory fortification of edible oil and milk with Vitamin A and D. The FSSAI has also outlined its plan to make rice fortification mandatory from 2024 with Vitamin B12, Iron, and Folic Acid in India. ASHA-Kisan Swaraj is a volunteer-driven large informal network of…

Researchers develop AI Technology capable of predicting food decay

Aug 1, 2021Aug 2, 2021 frank

INDIA – A group of 8 students undertaking an AI & Machine Learning Programme from India’s leading Ed-Tech company, Great Learning, have revealed that implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the food safety departments can help food and beverages, and hotel industry to minimise losses owed to food decay, by studying its current temperature thus predicting the rotting of the food in advance. The research titled,’Food Temperature Analysis and Forecasting’ can consequently minimise losses from the spoilage of edibles and also bring down operational costs. It applied Data Analytics and…

FSSAI deliberates on using advanced technological tools to ascertain food quality, safety

Jul 28, 2021Jul 28, 2021 frank

INDIA – Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has said it is exploring the possibility of using next generation technological tools like blockchain and machine learning to ensure food safety and quality. Such tools assume importance as the current pandemic situation has negatively affected many aspects of routine regulatory inspections, monitoring and surveillance at both the domestic level and border points which are indispensable for ensuring food safety and quality. Addressing a virtual event organized by industry chamber CII, FSSAI CEO Arun Singhal urged the industry and researchers…