FSSAI directs state food safety commissioners to implement new norms on additives

NEW DELHI: The food regulator has directed all state food safety commissioners to implement the new standards for food additives notified by the regulator in December.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had uploaded a list of 8,000 approved additives, the food categories in which they can be used, and the permissible limit for them on its website on December 13, 2015.

"It is directed that the enforcement official in your state/UT be instructed to implement the said standards for food additives in various food categories," the FSSAI said in an internal communication to state food safety departments on January 14.

The regulator is preparing new rules for product approvals after an earlier advisory, which put it at loggerheads with the industry, was quashed by the Supreme Court for not having legal standing.

The FSSAI's proposed regulation may require product approval only if a new ingredient or additive, apart from the 8,000 specified earlier, is introduced in a food item. This norm, being followed in several developed nations, has been a long-standing demand of the Indian food industry.