Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has constituted three-member committee to look into draft food labelling and display regulations-Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations 2018.
Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations 2018
- FSSAI had released draft Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Regulations 2018 in April 2018.
- It had proposed mandatory red-label marking on such packaged food products which are high in fat, sugar and salt contents.
- The front-of-the-pack red label mark was aimed to make consumers more aware about healthy and unhealthy food products.
- But, Union Health Ministry had put on hold on the draft regulations, after industry stakeholders had expressed concerns, citing that it may have an adverse impact on evolving packaged food industry.
- So to address their concerns, FSSAI has decided to set up committee of experts with health and nutrition background to look into t draft regulations.
Significance
- India can learn from best practices from the other countries such as Denmark, Norway and Singapore on labelling and trans-fat regulations.
- Consultation process started by FSSAI is seen as an attempt to begin dialogue among stakeholders on proposed draft labelling regulations.
- Moreover, recently, several companies had pledged to FSSAI’s Eat Right Movement and have made voluntary commitments to reduce salt, sugar and fat in their products.
- FSSAI in future is likely to push more and more companies to make similar voluntary commitments.