FSSAI- DRAFTS

Draft “Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Amendment Regulations, 2019 related to insertion of Appendix ‘C’ w.r.t. Processing Aids”. (Uploaded on: 11.02.2019)

The objections or suggestions, if any, may be addressed to the Chief Executive Officer, 03rd Floor, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Food and Drug Administration Bhawan, Kotla Road, New Delhi. 110002. The objections or suggestions may also be mailed to regulation@fssai.gov.in on or before 11.03.2019.

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• Format for sending the Comments and suggestions (Pdf to Save or Print, 218 KB) Submit Comments Online

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Draft “Food Safety and Standards (Fortification of Foods) Amendment Regulations, 2019 related to standards for fortification of species identified milk, multigrain atta, processed food products and exclusion for fortified salt from having + F logo. (Uploaded on: 11.02.2019)

The objections or suggestions, if any, may be addressed to the Chief Executive Officer, 03rd Floor, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Food and Drug Administration Bhawan, Kotla Road, New Delhi. 110002. The objections or suggestions may also be mailed to regulation@fssai.gov.in on or before 11.03.2019.

• English / हिंदी (Pdf to Save or Print, 398 KB)
• Format for sending the Comments and suggestions (Pdf to Save or Print, 218 KB) Submit Comments Online

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Draft “Food Safety and Standards (Recovery and Distribution of Surplus Foods) Regulations, 2019.” (Uploaded on: 11.02.2019)

The objections or suggestions, if any, may be addressed to the Chief Executive Officer, 03rd Floor, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Food and Drug Administration Bhawan, Kotla Road, New Delhi. 110002. The objections or suggestions may also be mailed to regulation@fssai.gov.in on or before 11.03.2019.

• English / हिंदी (Pdf to Save or Print, 398 KB)
• Format for sending the Comments and suggestions (Pdf to Save or Print, 218 KB) Submit Comments Online

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Draft “Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Amendment Regulations, 2019 related to standards of wheat bran and non-fermented soybean products. (Uploaded on: 08.02.2019)

The objections or suggestions, if any, may be addressed to the Chief Executive Officer, 03rd Floor, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Food and Drug Administration Bhawan, Kotla Road, New Delhi. 110002. The objections or suggestions may also be mailed to regulation@fssai.gov.in on or before 08.03.2019.

• English / हिंदी (Pdf to Save or Print, 533 KB)
• Format for sending the Comments and suggestions (Pdf to Save or Print, 218 KB) Submit Comments Online

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Draft Food Safety and Standards (Laboratory and Sample analysis) Amendment Regulation, 2019 w.r.t sub-regulation 2.1.1, 2.2.2 and 2.3. (Uploaded on: 08.02.2019)

The objections or suggestions, if any, may be addressed to the Chief Executive Officer, 03rd Floor, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Food and Drug Administration Bhawan, Kotla Road, New Delhi. 110002. The objections or suggestions may also be mailed to regulation@fssai.gov.in on or before 08.03.2019.

• English / हिंदी (Pdf to Save or Print, 311 KB)
• Format for sending the Comments and suggestions (Pdf to Save or Print, 218 KB)

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Draft Notification on Food Safety and Standards (Import) Amendment Regulation, 2019. (Uploaded on: 05.02.2019)

The objections or suggestions, if any, may be addressed to the Chief Executive Officer, 03rd Floor, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Food and Drug Administration Bhawan, Kotla Road, New Delhi. 110002. The objections or suggestions may also be mailed to regulation@fssai.gov.in on or before 05.03.2019.

• English / हिंदी (Pdf to Save or Print, 386 KB)
• Format for sending the Comments and suggestions (Pdf to Save or Print, 218 KB)

Spices Board organises Food Safety Conclave aimed at capacity building

 

With the objective of promoting food safety and capacity building, Spices Board organised a National Conclave on Food Safety in New Delhi on Tuesday. It was inaugurated by B N S Murthy. M K Shanmuga Sundaram, secretary, Spices Board, and Christopher Priddy, representing country head, USFDA, were present on the occasion.
Sundaram, in his address, emphasised the need for safe food for a healthy, growing generation and the board’s obligations to fulfill national and international standards. He said that it was the responsibility of all stakeholders to ensure food safety from farm to fork.
Murthy, in his inaugural address, pointed out the concerns to be addressed at the farm level and the need for post-harvest hygiene and the prevention of unintentional contaminations for safe food. Priddy presented an overview of the Food Safety Modernisation Act.
The food safety requirements under FSSAI regulations were elaborated and presented by Sunil Bakshi, advisor FSSAI. Food safety hazards in the spice industry was the topic of the presentation by James Rushing of JIFSAN (Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition), USFDA. The impact assessment of food safety training programmes were presented by JIFSAN’s Clare Narrod.
A panel discussion on the future path to implementation of food safety measures was also held at the end of the programme.

Clean Street Food Hub initiative gains steam; Chappan Dukaan gets tag

FSSAI’s project of upgrading street food facilities across India is gaining momentum in the country, with several states coming forward to identify such places to be declared as Clean Street Food Hubs (CSFHs). Recently, Chappan Dukaan in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, was granted the Clean Street Food Hub tag by the country’s apex food regulator.
The objectives of the initiative are to raise hygiene standards, and change street food vending in India through an approach of bringing street vendors into an ecosystem where they will be held with high esteem, not only in the country but across the globe as well, along with preserving the rich culinary heritage of the country.
The hubs and cluster will be certified by FSSAI once the vendors have met the prescribed parameters to ensure the foodies that the food served to them has been prepared in clean and hygienic conditions.
Ahmedabad was the first city in the country to be accorded the CSFH tag by FSSAI in 2008. Kankaria Lake cluster and Urban Chowk on SG Highway were approved street food hubs, alongside Gopi Talav in Surat, which also received the CFSH tag from the regulator.
Speaking on the progress of the CSFH initiative in Maharashtra, Milind Deshpande, assistant commissioner (food), FDA (Food and Drug Administration), Nagpur, stated, “Juhu Chowpatty and Girgaum Chowpatty in Mumbai, and Khau Galli in Pune, are in the pipeline, while Phutala Talao in Nagpur has been postponed for now.”
Arbind Singh, national coordinator, National Association of Street Vendors in India (NASVI), said, “It would be great for people who like to have street food as they will be able to get cheap food, and the Clean Street Food Hub initative will help the vendors to add it to their income, as street food attracts more people, which will definitely increase their standard of living and livelihood.”
The deputy chief medical officer of Health-II, Hooghly, West Bengal, stated, “CSFH is a great initative taken up by FSSAI. In West Bengal, the project is in progress and the places are yet to be announced.”
Meanwhile, FDA officials from Rajasthan, Bihar and Goa stated that the project was being studied in their respective states, and while several places had been identified, the work related to certification was in the pipeline and would take some time.
The parameters considered for CSFH are display of food safety boards, registration of the clutter with FSSAI, a valid license and precautionary measures for food safety.
The main motto of this initiative is to ensure the social and economic upliftment of the street vendor community by helping them in improving the quality of offerings, thereby attracting more customers, and to enhance the popularity of street food by transforming it into a global brand by itself.
Project Clean Street Food was one of the initiatives taken up by FSSAI under a 360-degree approach to Food Safety and Healthy Nutrition. This would involve training and capacity building of the street food vendors and ensure proper regulatory oversight over them under the Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011.

Food safety training ecosystem crosses 1,00,000-trained supervisor mark

The training and capacity-building ecosystem for promoting food safety and hygiene in India has achieved an important milestone today, crossing a mark of 1,00,000 trained and certified supervisors through 3,500 training sessions conducted so far in the last 20 months since its inception in July 2017.
This was said by FSSAI, the country’s apex food regulator, in a statement here on Thursday.
The Food Safety Training and Certification (FoSTaC) is a programme initiated by FSSAI aimed at building capacities of food handlers across the food value chain, including micro-, small, medium and large-scale enterprises in the food sector.
The statement said, “FoSTaC has created a ripple effect with a pan-India training network. It comprises 169 training partners and over 1,500 empanelled master trainers, who conduct training programmes across three levels of courses (basic, advanced and special) in a cascading model.”
With 17 courses across the levels, the FoSTaC training programme stipulates that food business operators (FBOs) are required to have at least one trained and certified food safety supervisor for every 25 food handlers, or a part thereof, in each of their premises.
The FoSTaC programme runs through an online portal that manages all kinds of training programmes end-to-end through the effective delivery of the entire course module by trained subject matter experts in association with training partners empanelled with FSSAI.
Under the FoSTaC programme, over 80,000 people have been trained in the organised sector and almost 18,000 people in the unorganised sector, including street food vendors and self-help groups (SHGs), till date.
Pawan Kumar Agarwal, chief executive officer, FSSAI, said, “FoSTaC has proved that food safety is a shared responsibility that aims to promote a culture of self-compliance in food businesses by making them more diligent towards food safety and hygiene in their premises through effective training and capacity-building of their own staff.”
He added that the success of this initiative lies on the power of partnership between stakeholders across the value chain and convergence towards enabling than policing as licensing and enforcement alone does not ensure food is safe for consumption.
Such an ecosystem will pave a way towards creating a sustainable model that can be replicated by other similar geographies across the globe.

Govt eases rules for budget hotels seeking food licences

 

• Budget hotels will not require star rating certificates for seeking food safety licences
• The hospitality industry in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.1% in 2022, according to a report by KPMG

NEW DELHI: The government has relaxed norms for budget hotels in procuring food safety licences to promote ease of doing business for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the hospitality industry.

The move comes in the wake of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) receiving several representations from stakeholders to review the provisions requiring hotel food business operators (FBOs) to furnish star rating certificates from the ministry of tourism’s Hotel & Restaurant Approval & Classification Committee (HRACC) while applying for a fresh licence or to renew a licence.

FSSAI, the food safety regulation arm of the health ministry, has said budget hotels will not require star rating certificates for seeking food safety licences.

“It has been brought to the notice of FSSAI that the scheme of certificate of star ratings to the hotels by the ministry of tourism (HRACC) is voluntary and many hotels particularly small hotels do not go for star certification under the scheme. However, licensing authorities insist on the production of the certificate of ratings even from small or tiny hotels at the time of applying for fresh licence or renewal of licence. As a result, the hotel industry is facing difficulty in getting licences for hotels," Parveen Jargar, joint director (regulatory compliance), FSSAI said in his order dated 7 February.

Mint has reviewed a copy of the order.

“As per the licensing criteria, hotels with ratings of five star and above require central licences and hotels with rating four star and below with a turnover above ₹12 lakh require a state licence. It is clarified that the criteria for hotels for state licence includes both star category hotels (one star to four star) as well as non-star category hotels, including all those hotels that have not opted for star rating," the order said.

The ministry of tourism has formulated a voluntary scheme for classification of operational hotels under the star category—5 Star Deluxe, 5 Star, 4 Star, 3 Star, 2 Star, and 1 Star—and the heritage category—Heritage Grand, Heritage Classic, and Heritage Basic. The aim is to provide contemporary standards of facilities and services available on the hotels.

“Small and budget hotels will now have an opportunity of improving their services instead of running around for paper work. This will encourage the hotel industry," said Arup Mitra, professor, health policy research unit at the Institute of Economic Growth. The hospitality industry in India is expected to grow at 16.1% CAGR in 2022, according to KPMG.

India Brand Equity Foundation, a trust established by the department of commerce, ministry of commerce and industry, said the travel and tourism sector in India comprised 8% of the total employment opportunities generated in India in 2017, providing employment to about 41.6 million people during the year.

The FSSAI decided that hotel FBOs will have to upload on the online food licensing and registration system (FLRS) a declaration stating whether they are star or non-star hotel. In case of star hotels, they will be required to submit a star certificate issued by the ministry of tourism.

‘Obesity rate doubled in State in 10 years’

 

Lack of nutritious food or unhealthy eating habits, both seem to have a major impact on the population of Jharkhand. Sharing data on obesity and malnutrition in State, Deepika Anand, nutritionist at World Bank, informed obesity and overweight has doubled in both men and women in a decade.

Comparing the data of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 3 conducted in 2005-06 and NFHS 4 conducted in 2015-16, she said, “When in 2005-06, 4.9 per cent men and 5.4 per cent women were overweight, it has increased to 11.1 and 10.3 per cent respectively in 2015-16.”

She also shared non communicable diseases like diabetes, hypertension and heart problems are responsible for 48 per cent of total disease burden of the State and cardiovascular diseases are among top 10 leading cause of death in the State for people above 40 years of age.

At the same time under nutrition indicators in the State also show that underweight children and anemia among the population in general is a major problem in Jharkhand.

“Anemia among women in Jharkhand is 65.2 per cent, which is much higher than the national average of 53 per cent. However, a more shocking indicator is anemia among men, which is 29.9 per cent in State, as compared to 22.7 per cent in the country,” Anand said.

As far as children under the age of five is considered, 45.3 per cent children are stunted (low height for age) in Jharkhand as compared to 38.4 per cent in country, 29 per cent are wasted (low weight for height) against 21 per cent in country and 47.8 per cent children are underweight against the average of 35.7 per cent at national level.

A programme organised by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and World Bank in the city on Wednesday focused on the Eat Right India Movement in order to prevent the citizens from falling prey to malnourishment, overweight or other health issues caused by unhealthy eating habits.

The Swasth Bharat Yatra to spread the message of Eat Right Movement was flagged off from six districts across country, including Ranchi on October 16, 2018 and culminated at New Delhi on January 27, 2019.

Anand said, “Now that the yatra is over, we are aiming to spread the message of healthy eating through awareness programmes like these. Our three focus areas are eat healthy, eat safe and eat fortified.”

She pointed out that the largest increase in the disease burden from 1990 to 2016 was observed for diabetes with a growth of 80 percent.

“Of the total disease burden, 1/10th was caused by a group of risks including unhealthy diet, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol and overweight,” she said.

The data further showed that the per capita consumption of sugar has risen from 22 gm/day in 2000 to 55.3 gm/day in 2010. Likewise, salt consumption ranges from 9 to 12 gm per capita per day which is twice the recommended dietary intake of 5 gm/day by World Health Organization.

The programme focused on reduction of health risks by eating healthy. Some of the major tips shared included gradual reduction of oil in daily diet, tracking the consumption of oil in the home on monthly basis, measuring cooking oil with spoon rather than pouring directly from bottle, avoiding reheating the oil, choosing lean meat over red meat among many others.

Anand said, “Follow 7Cs, check for spoilage, clean hands and food, cover food, cook properly, control temperature, consume food hygienically and avoid cross contamination in order to provide food contamination.”

Food watchdog FDA to ensure Mumbai restaurants do not keep reusing stale oil

 

From next month, the food watchdog will scrutinise restaurant records to check whether they are re-using stale oil beyond the permissible limit

Reusing oil too many times can lead to severe health issues.

Soon citizens won’t have worry whether their French fries or bhajias were cooked in stale oil. Come March 1, restaurants and eateries will find it hard to keep re-using stale oil, with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) carefully watching their oil consumption.

Re-using oil can cause severe health issues like high cholesterol, blood pressure and liver issues. The new rules of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) now prohibit cooking more than three times with the same oil. To ensure that the rule is followed, eateries will be required to keep a log of their purchase and use of edible oils from March 1. The FSSAI has directed all Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) across the country to notify restaurants using more than 50 litres of oil per day to maintain a daily chart.

As per the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration) First Amendment Regulations, 2017, use of edible oils more than three times is forbidden, as it leads to severe health consequences. "Repeated usage of cooking oil leads to changes in the physiochemical, nutritional and sensory properties which cause severe health issues. During frying, total polar compounds or TPCs are formed in the oil, which are also called frying fats. The regulation has been introduced to stop this," said Pallavi Dadare, commissioner of FDA (Maharashtra).

As per the new rules, the TPC limit is 25 percent, beyond which the oil is not suitable for use. "To ensure that such used cooking oil is neither directly used in the food preparation nor reentered into the food chain, it has been decided that all Food Business Operators whose consumption of edible oils for frying is more than 50 litres per day, shall maintain the records and dispose used cooking oil to agencies authorised by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India or Commissioner of Food Safety of States/UTs from time to time," reads the notification sent by FSSAI.

Restaurants will have to submit data such as name of the oil, quantity of oil taken for frying, quantity discarded at the end of the day, date and mode of disposal and which agency the oil was handed over to. "Overuse of edible oils can lead to health issues like high cholesterol, blood pressure and liver issues. It is always advisable not to use same cooking oil on a regular basis. This accountability can help to control this habit in hotels," said Dr Saurav Mehta, a general physician.

Kochi: Stale food seized from eateries

 

KOCHI: The health officials of Tripunithura municipality conducted raids in three leading hotels in the town on Tuesday.

The stale food seized from these restaurants – dishes of meat, fish and egg – were displayed at the reception of the municipal office along with the name tag of eateries.

Officials of the food safety department had earlier conducted a raid at a prominent juice chain in Tripunithura following complaints by customers who were given stale pani puri. A woman who ate pani puri from the outlet on Saturday had vomited immediately. Aluva food safety officer V Shanmukhan rushed to the eatery after they complained to the state food safety commissioner. “We have sent the food samples to Kakkanad lab for analysis. After getting a detailed lab report, we will take stringent action against the outlet,” the food safety officer said.

The raid by municipal health officials on Tuesday was carried out to ensure food safety in eateries.

Food safety officials in the district on Tuesday conducted inspections in shops and food-processing centres in select panchayats. Raids were also conducted in bar hotels and restaurants and tankers transporting drinking water.

Food safety nodal officer for the district said around 110 inspections were carried out by the department on Tuesday. The inspections were carried out in Varapuzha and Payipra, which are among 11 panchayats selected in the district as food safety panchayats.

Food safety officer for Muvattupuzha said they mostly checked licences of eateries.

“We have issued around 50 notices across the district following this,” said a department official.

The department would also conduct food safety awareness programmes in the 11 selected panchayats from Friday. The process of making these panchayats safe for food consumption would be complete by March 31.

The department officials in association with the excise department also conducted raids in select bar hotels in the district. This is following a directive from the excise commissioner asking for joint raids to ensure quality of food served in bar hotels.

The officials also conducted inspection of water tankers to ensure safety of drinking water supplied to apartments and regions with water scarcity. “All the tanker lorries that we inspected had proper licence. We have collected water samples and we would take action if they are found to be filthy,” an official said.

FSSAI introduces restriction on eatery owners from using same batch of cooking oil more than thrice

 

In order to curb the consumption of ‘frying fats’, the FSSAI and the FDA have brought in a restriction for eatery owners prohibiting them from using the same batch of edible/cooking oil more than thrice.

March 1 has been set as the deadline for eatery owners to adhere to the new guidelines

Mumbai: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is all set to impose a new rule on eateries and restaurants which will prohibit them from cooking more than three times with the same batch of cooking oil. The central body has sent notices to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) departments of all states asking them to ensure that the practice is implemented by March 1.

In its notice, the FSSAI has asked FDA to ensure that the new rule is imposed and adhered to by restaurant and eatery owners before the stipulated deadline. This rule will apply for all eateries and restaurants using more than 50 litres of oil per day. The rule has been brought into effect as per Section 16 (5) of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.

The FSSAI also said that starting March 1, it will conduct inspections across the country to ensure that the rule is being adhered to by eatery and restaurant owners. These owners have been asked to prepare and maintain a daily chart recording their daily consumption of oil in addition to keeping a log of their purchase of edible oils.

Pallavi Dadare, commissioner of FDA (Maharashtra division) told media outlets that repeated use of cooking oil leads to changes in the physiochemical, nutritional and sensory properties. Total polar compounds (TPCs) formed in the oil during frying are called ‘frying fats’ and the rule is aimed at curbing the consumption of these ‘frying fats’.