Proprietary Foods: What all you should know?

There is no specific list of Proprietary Foods in India till date. The food products are considered as proprietary food if there are no existence of standards for them in FSSAI regulations. They can be made from standardized products like milk or milk products, cereals, eggs, meat and meat products, vegetables and fruits, nuts, etc. Some examples include ready to cook products like chips, instant coffee and tea premixes, instant noodles, masala mix for different preparations, instant upma, popcorns, etc.

There is a growing demand for Proprietary Foods in India. FSSAI recognized that a specific framework is required to manufacture and market proprietary food. The apex regulatory body brought regulations for Proprietary Foods in similar lines with the global best practices to provide certainty to all food business operators. while providing them with the flexibility to innovate.

The Proprietary Food regulations are covered under Regulation 2.12 of Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards & Food Additives) Regulations, 2016. They came in place after several revisions and operationalized on January 13, 2016. Subsequently, these revised standards were notified on April 19, 2016, and uploaded on FSSAI website on April 27, 2016. FSSAI asked for suggestions and comments from food industry through this notification. The standards of Proprietary Food were made official with effect from August 22, 2016 and superseded the earlier standards as operationalized on January 13, 2016. These were later published on October 10, 2016 as Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Ninth Amendment Regulations, 2016 and were enforced for compliance from July 1, 2017.