The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has approved amendments in food safety regulations to do away with Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) or Agmark certifications and make only FSSAI certification mandatory for food products in the country.
The FSSAI said the move is in line with the concept of ‘One Nation, One Commodity, One Regulator’ and will facilitate ease of doing business. Once these amendments are finalized, food businesses will only require mandatory FSSAI certification and would not need certifications from other authorities.
The decision was taken in the food safety authority’s 43rd meeting held recently in Delhi under the chairmanship of health secretary Apurva Chandra, where various amendments were approved to streamline food safety and standards regulations, a PIB release said.
“Various amendments across different Food Safety and Standards Regulations were approved in the meeting to do away with Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) or AGMARK certification for food products. After the amendments are finalized, food businesses would not have to go to different authorities for mandatory certification with only FSSAI certification being made mandatory for food products,” the official statement added.
Standards of milk fat products, haleem
Other approvals include standards of mead (honey wine) and alcoholic ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages, revision of standards of milk fat products, standards for haleem etc.
The food authority also approved a first-of-its-kind and comprehensive manuals of methods of analysis for ensuring regulatory compliance of the food products.
The amendments across different food safety and standards regulations were approved in the meeting for draft notification to invite stakeholder comments before finalization. These regulations included the revision of standards of milk fat products, as part of which the fatty acid requirements for ghee will also be applicable for other milk fat products.
The authority will also set standards for ‘haleem’ as part of standards for meat products. Haleem is a dish made of meat, pulses, grains and other ingredients, but doesn’t have any set standards.
G Kamala Vardhana Rao, CEO of FSSAI, officials from the ministry of health and family welfare, ministry of commerce, ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, ministry of law and justice, ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises; and states and Union territories attended the meeting.
Representatives from industry associations, consumer organizations, research institutes and farmers’ organizations were also present in the meeting.
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Naresh Khanna – 10 February 2025
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