FSSAI issues draft regulations for organic food products

•  Food regulator FSSAI has come out with a draft regulation for organic food products, seeking to ensure that these food items are actually organic.

Main highlights of the guidelines:

• It mandates that labelling of organic foods should convey full and accurate information on the organic status of the product.
• Organic food products should also carry a certification mark or a quality assurance mark given by any of the notified certification bodies.
• There is exemption of organic food marketed through direct sale by the original producer or producer organisation to the end consumer from verification compliance. However, this exemption does not apply to processed organic products.
• The FSSAI has defined 'organic agriculture' as a system of farm design and management to create an eco system of agriculture production without the use of synthetic external inputs such as chemicals, fertilisers, pesticides and synthetic hormones or genetically modified organisms.
• Organic farm produce means the produce obtained from organic agriculture, while organic food means food products that have been produced in accordance with specified standards for organic production, as per the draft.

About FSSAI:

• FSSAI was set up in August 2011 under the Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006.
• It has powers to lay down standards for food articles and to regulate their manufacturing, storage, distribution, sale and import.
• Some of its activities include licencing and surveillance of food and beverages outlets, enforcement of safety regulations across registered food vendors and ensuring safety of imported food items, their standards and labelling.

Background:

• Organic food products are either that grown under a system of agriculture without the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides or made from organically produced raw materials .Currently, a number of food products are being marketed as organic.
• However consumers do not have any way to check the authenticity of organic food products due to lack of a regulatory framework. This draft regulation on organic food is aimed at overcoming this problem and ensuring that what is sold as organic food is really organic.

By: Vishal