FSSAI presents Food Safety and Standard (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Amendment Regulations, 2022

FSSAI presents Food Safety and Standard (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Amendment Regulations, 2022

 

FSSAI regularly provides updates and changes in existing food and ingredients guidelines. This is to ensure that foods reaching the consumers are of the highest quality, aiming to minimise practices like adulteration, poor quality, etc. 

Thus, in the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, the following amendments have been added by FSSAI-

Amendments in Regulation 2.2

Regulation 2.2 is associated with food standards for the edible oils used in food products. In 2022 amendments regarding refractive indices of various oils food standards have been included, in sub-regulation, 2.2.1:

Amendments in Regulation 2.5

The following clauses are added under sub-regulation 2.5.2, related to “Comminuted or Restructured Meat Products ‘, namely:

Meat Sausages 2A

It includes minced meat (pork, poultry, or other food animals) marketed as fresh, cooked, fermented, or smoked. The following standards are applied to the meat sausages, fresh or cooked:

• Meat sausages must have the following standards:
  • Palatable
  • Pleasant flavour
  • Attractive appearance
  • No objectionable odour 
  • Uniform texture
  • No hair or bone particles
  • Free from insect and rodent contamination
  • No harmful substances present in it
• All sausages shall be prepared from fresh frozen meat.
• Smoked sausages should be smoked with only hardwood or non-resinous material.
• Cooked sausages should be cooked to attain an internal temperature of 75°C. 
• Dry or fermented sausages should be prepared with a controlled drying process.
• Preparation and processing standards, final composition standards, and additives acceptable, too have been defined in this notice. 
• Meat sausages should have the following proper standards for storage-
  • Fresh and cooked sausage stored at a temperature of 4°C 
  • Frozen sausages stored at -18°C or lower

Amendments in Regulation 2.9

The following sub-regulation shall be inserted in sub-regulation 2.9.43:

Dehydrated Tarragon, Whole and Powder

Dehydrated Tarragon is the dried leaves or its powder obtained from the plant Artemisia ranunculus Linnaeus, and should have the following standards:

It should be free from dead insects, pests, rodents, human excreta, molds, and foreign organic or inorganic matter. Requirements for its chemical constitutions have been defined in this notice. 

 

Amendments in Regulation 2.10

Sub-regulation 2.10.8 related to the packaged drinking water is amended for changes in its organoleptic and physical parameters. Also, changes are made to its general parameters concerning undesirable substances and their amounts.

Amendments in Regulation 2.12

It is related to ‘proprietary food’ and has the following clause inserted:

• Products where the addition of ingredients, including applicable additives in standardised food products, do not lead to any changes in the standardised food products in terms of the defined horizontal as well as vertical parameters under FSSR, shall be licensed into a respective standardised food product category, subject to the endorsement in the license if required.
• Products where the addition of ingredients, including applicable additives in standardised food products under these regulations, lead to changes in the standardised food products in terms of the defined horizontal and vertical parameters under FSSR shall be licensed as Proprietary Foods with the nearest standardised food product or category.

Amendments in Regulation 2.17 and Regulation 2.18

It includes the standards for the Indian Mithais and Indian Namkeens sold over the counter, including both packaged and pre-packaged products. They shall have the following food standards:

• It should be prepared by singing one or combining raw materials and other ingredients as permitted and specified under section 2 of these regulations.
• The production process shall meet respective standards.
• The product shall have characteristic taste, flavour, and texture.
• It shall be free from rancid taste or smell.
• It shall be free from insects, insect fragments, visible moulds, or any objectionable matter.
• As specified in Appendix ‘A’ of these regulations, food additives shall be used within the specified limit.
• The product shall have a maximum level of contaminants as specified in the Food Safety and Standards (Contaminants, toxins, and Residues) Regulations, 2011.
• The product shall be prepared and handled following Schedule 4 of the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Regulations, 2011.
• The product shall be labelled following Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2020.
• The methods of sampling and analysis mentioned in the manual, as specified by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India from time to time, shall be applicable.

 

Amendments in Regulation 3.2

It is related to the ‘Food colours’ and has the following standards:

•  Under the sub-regulation 3.2.1, the food colours relating to tartrazine, sunset yellow, erythrosine, indigo carmine, ponceau 4R, and carmoisine shall be free from mercury, copper and chromium in any form; aromatic amines, aromatic nitro compounds, aromatic hydrocarbons, and cyanides.
• Clause 12, ‘Synthetic food colour- Preparation and Mixtures’ shall be substituted with clause named ‘Food Colour- Preparation and Mixtures’ whose details are listed in the notice. 

There are new amendments in Appendix A, under the heading “IV. Use of Food Additives in Food Products”, and Appendix C, under the heading “II. Use of Processing Aids in Food Products”

 

Summary:

• FSSAI recently published a draft rule issuing amendments in the Food Safety and Standard (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) 2022.
• This regulation amends certain food items in the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011.
• The regulations shall be taken into consideration after sixty days after the notification is made public. 
• This Gazette includes amendments in Regulation 2.2 associated with food standards for edible oils, including palm oil, palm kernel oil, and palm olein.
• The amendments in Regulation 2.5, which includes meat sausages, fresh or cooked, are made.
• Amendments are made in regulation 2.9, after sub-regulation 2.9.42 concerning dehydrated tarragon, whole and powder.
• Packaged drinking water under sub-regulation 2.10.8 has amends in its organoleptic and physical parameters.
• New clauses are inserted in Regulation 2.12 for Proprietary food standards. 
• Amendments are made to the standards for Indian Mithais and Indian Namkeens under Regulation 2.12 and Regulation 2.18, respectively.

Short description:

On 31 October 2022, FSSAI published a notification amending the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives), 2011. These new regulations will be called the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Amendment Regulations, 2022, effective sixty days after publication in the Official Gazette.

Reference:

https://www.fssai.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/Draft_Notification_Food_Products_03_11_2022.pdf