India’s food regulator, FSSAI has proposed a ban on all forms of advertising of products with high fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) aimed at children, a move that could affect companies making chips, burgers, pizzas and other junk food.
“HFSS food products shall not be advertised to children in any form,” the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India said in a notice inviting comments, views and suggestions to its draft regulations.
However, the draft Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations, 2018, did not spell out how the advertising curbs would be enforced. An expert panel set up by the authority earlier had recommended a ban on advertising of junk foods on children’s channels or during kids’ shows on TV.
“Potato chips, colas, ready-to-eat food and pickle are hugely advertised products which fall in the category of high fat, sugar and salt. However, these are items of general consumption, so how do we ensure that children are excluded from viewing those ads?” asked Sagar Kurade, a representative of the All India Food Processors' Association.
The Food and Beverage Alliance of India, which includes companies such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestle, Kellogg, Mars Chocolate, Hindustan Unilever and Mondelez, has already decided to voluntarily restrict food and beverage advertisements aimed at children.
“The revenue of kids’ channels has already suffered due to responsible advertising policy of most multi-national companies.
Going forward, there could be some more dent, however, it may not be so much,” said Basabdatta Chowdhuri, chief operating officer of media-buying agency Publicis Media. The draft policy suggests that food companies declare the quantity of total fat, added sugar, salt, trans fat and energy in each serving with the recommended dietary allowance.
फूड सेफ्टी एंड स्टैंडर्ड्स ऑफ अथॉरिटी (FSSAI) जल्द ही खाद्य पदार्थों के लिए नई पैकेजिंग लेकर आएगा। ये निर्णय रंगीन और काले बैग जैसी ढीली पैकेजिंग, एल्यूमिनियम कोटिंग के साथ डिस्पोजेबल कंटेनर और मिठाई के डिब्बों में रखी चीजों को दूषित होते देख लिया गया है।
खाद्य नियामक ने फूड पैकेजिंग पर एक नेशनल सर्वे किया जिसमें पता चला कि करीब 80 प्रतिशत खाना रंगीन कैरी बैग में, 59 प्रतिशत काले कैरी बैग में, 24 प्रतिशत से ज्यादा एल्यूमिनियम कोटिंग के डिस्पोजेबल कंटेनर में और 21 प्रतिशत मिठाई के डिब्बों में पैक किया जाता है और इन सभी में कैमिकल पाए गए।
इस खतरे पर रोक लगाने के लिए FSSAI पैकेजिंग के नए तरीकों के लिए पूरी तरह से तैयार है। कहा जा रहा है कि ये रीसाइकिल्ड प्लासटिक से बने पैकेजिंग मैटेरियल पर रोक लगाएगा।
FSSAI के चीफ एक्जीक्यूटिव पवन अग्रवाल ने कहा, 'पैकेजिंग के नए तरीके भारत में खाने की सेफ्टी को एक अगले स्तर तक बढ़ा देंगे। असंगठित क्षेत्रों में इस नई पैकेजिंग को लाना थोड़ा मुश्किल हो सकता है इसलिए हमने इन नियमों को लागू करने से पहले पर्याप्त समय दिया है।'
अग्रवाल ने आगे कहा कि पैकेजिंग का मुख्य उद्देश्य खाने को माइक्रो-बायोलोजिकल, कैमिकल, फिजिकल औप दूषित वातावरण से बचाकर सुरक्षित रखना है। फू़ड बिजनेस को 1 जुलाई 2019 से नए नियमों का पालन करना होगा।
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) will soon come up with new regulation on food packaging. The decision was taken after observing that loose packaging like coloured and black carry bags, disposable containers with aluminium coating and sweet boxes have emerged as major contaminants of packaged food.
The food regulator has conducted a national survey of food packaging material which found out that around 80% of food samples packed in coloured carry bags, 59% in black carry bags, more than 24% in aluminium coated disposable containers and 21% in sweet boxes were chemically contaminated.
In a bid to curb this menace, FSSAI is set to notify new regulations for food packaging that will prohibit packaging material made of recycled plastics.
Pawan Agarwal, Chief Executive of FSSAI, said, "The new packaging regulation would raise the bar of food safety in India to the next level. The implementation of the rules may be a challenge in the unorganised sector and therefore, we have given sufficient lead time before the regulations come into force."
"The primary objective of packaging is to protect the food contents from microbiological, chemical, physical and atmospheric contamination and preserve the food. Food businesses shall have to comply with the new regulations by July 1, 2019," Agarwal added.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is looking at making amendments in the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011. The amendments will be made by the food regulator to introduce labelling of artificial sweetener on beverages sold through vending machines.
Presently, companies must declare the presence of artificial sweetener in every package of food on its labelling as well as in their advertisements.
The FSSAI is proposing that if a beverage product containing artificial sweetener is sold via vending machines, "a display or label" declaring the presence of artificial sweetener "shall be placed on the cups or in the container in which the product is served".
The food regulator has further proposed to make it mandatory for a prominent display or labelling on the vending machine. It is now seeking views from the industry and other stakeholders for the proposed changes.
According to the new regulations of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) that will be notified soon, food companies cannot use words such as ‘natural’, ‘fresh’, ‘original’, ‘traditional’, ‘pure’, ‘aunthentic’, ‘genuine’ and ‘real’ on the labels unless the product is not processed in any manner except washed, peeled, chilled and trimmed or put through other processing which could alter its basic characteristics.
The move is aimed at making companies more accountable for their health and nutritional claims to protect consumer interest.
The food regulator further stated that the companies using terms which could mean ‘natural’, ‘fresh’, ‘original’, ‘traditional’, ‘pure’, ‘authentic’, ‘genuine’ and ‘real’ as their brand name or trade mark will have to give a clear disclaimer stating “this is only a brand name or trade mark and does not represent its true nature”.
A spokesperson for HUL said, "We are fully supportive of FSSAI’s efforts to improve nutritional standards in India. Along with the rest of the F&B industry, we are engaging with them to have robust regulations in place."
The government will come out with new set of regulations for food product approvals in the next few months, a move aimed at soothing the nerves of food processing industry rattled by the ban on Maggi noodles.
The "right kind" of regulations are being framed that would remove the difficulties faced by food processing industry in getting approvals for launching new products in the market, Food Processing Secretary Ranglal Jamuda said.
"FSSAI is in the process of having the right kind of regulations to set the house in order, in another couple of months whatever difficulty we have in getting product approvals or diversifying products or coming out with new products to fulfill demand in the market, possibly that kind of situation will substantially change," Jamuda said at an Assocham event on 'Financing Food Processing Business'.
"All the operational difficulties that have upset us for last couple of months will be taking good shape," he added.
In August this year, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) decided to engage legal assistance for formulation of regulations, following the judgments of various courts relating to food safety.
After the ban imposed by the FSSAI on Maggi noodles in June, Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal had said that the food regulator created an environment of fear in the industry and favoured streamlining of product approval system.
FSSAI had in June this year banned Maggi noodles saying it was "unsafe and hazardous" for consumption after finding lead levels beyond permissible limits.
Nestle India had withdrawn Maggi noodles from the market and challenged the ban in the Bombay High Court.
In August, the court lifted the nation-wide ban imposed by the Indian food regulators on Maggi noodles but ordered a fresh test of samples of the product in three independent labs across India.
Last week, Nestle India had said that all samples of Maggi cleared tests conducted by three laboratories, as mandated by the Bombay High Court. It is now planning to relaunch the product soon.
Yesterday, Karnataka and Gujarat lifted the ban on manufacturing and sale of Nestle India's popular instant food brand, paving the way for Maggi noodles' return.
The Secretary also asked the industry to utilise the Rs 2,000 crore corpus under the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for lending to food processing industries in mega food parks and designated food parks.
"So far, 7 applications have been sanctioned worth total amount of Rs 255 crore, if we do not utilise this fund by the end of this financial year, it would be very difficult to ask the Finance Ministry to extend this facility in coming years," he added.
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