Food Laws and Regulations-an overview

Food Law is an agglomeration of laws and regulations that supervise food production, food manufacturing, food storage, distribution, consumption, food sale and import. Food laws aim to safeguard consumers and also ensure complete safety of the consumer consuming a particular food product. Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) is currently the governing law associated with food products in India. This Law was passed in India on August 23, 2006 by the Parliament and is mainly governed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The Indian Food processing industry had enforced many laws that dealt with food safety and were in operation prior to the inception of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006. Some of them are:

·         The Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order, 1947

·         The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954

·         The Fruit Products Order, 1955

·         Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (in relation to food)

·         The Solvent Extracted Oil, De oiled Meal and Edible Flour (control) Order, 1967

·         The Meat Food Products Order, 1973

·         The Milk and Milk products Order, 1992

·         The Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation) Order, 1998

FSSA was passed by the Parliament with the main intention to converge previous 8 laws into one comprehensive act and thereby having only one regulatory body. FSSA came into prominence mainly as it orchestrated the Indian Food Laws and regulations as per international standards. Later, Food Safety and Standards Authority of USA (FSSAI), an autonomous body was established and set up by FSSA on August, 2011. Main responsibility of FSSAI is to protect and promote public health through the supervision and regulation of food safety and also to set standards for food in a way that there is no confusion among the traders, consumers, investors and manufacturers.

FSSA has implemented many regulations to provide assurance of food safety. Key regulations include:

1.      Packaging and Labeling:

FSSA has enforced certain regulations on the packaging and labeling of food products which include general requirements of enclosing and labeling of the food products for its safe distribution, storage, sale and import.

2.      Signage and Customer Notices:

Under this section, FSSA has provisions with regard to the presentation and advertising of the food products by different food business operators. Under this act, no one is allowed to engage themselves  in any discriminatory trade practice for the promotion and sale of their products and also no one can adopt any deceptive approach by making false statements whether orally, or in writing or by any source of visual representation which:

a)      falsely represents that the food products are of good standard and quality

b)     makes falsification or misrepresentation of the product’s usefulness

c)      provides guarantee of the product without any adequate or scientific justification.

3.      Licensing Registration an Health And Sanitary Permits:

Under this provision, FSSA governs the license and registration of a business operator. FSSA ensures that each and every food operator is registered in accordance to the License and Registration Regulations so that no one can start a food business unless they possess a valid license. Prime purpose of FSSA is to ensure that each and every business operator maintains food safety, sanitary and hygienic standards.

Penalties by FSSA:

The Food Safety and Standards Act (FSSA) enforce the following penalties for misleading and dishonest trade affairs: