InkWeek: FSSAI initiatives on Day Five
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been continuously raising the bar on packaging safety, by promulgating various rules and regulations. As a result, we have seen brands and packaging converters shift towards food-safe inks, and take other food-safety measures.
17 Mar 2022 | 1782 Views | By PrintWeek Team
But there is still more to be done in food safety and FSSAI has been working on it.
Dr KA Arul Anand, joint director (technical), designated officer, central licensing (Telangana and Andhra Pradesh), FSSAI, will speak on various initiatives of the authority on Day 5 of the InkWeek event organised by PrintWeek on 25 March 2020.
Among its food safety initiatives, FSSAI has launched a cloud-based food safety compliance platform named Food Safety Compliance System (FoSCoS). FoSCoS has been conceptualised to boost engagements of Food Business Operators (FBO) with the department for any regulatory compliance transaction. The system has been integrated with FoSCoRIS mobile application and will soon be integrated with other FSSAI’s platforms such as INFOLNet, FoSTaC, FICS, FPVIS, and so on.
FSSAI has also signed a MoU with the ministry of food processing industries to support micro food entrepreneurs, farmer producer organisations (FPOs), self-help groups (SHGs) and producers cooperatives to improve the standard of food businesses. Food handlers of micro level food processing units will be provided training on understanding of good hygiene and manufacturing practices, food testing processes, and other regulatory requirements.
Meanwhile, the authority recently announced that it will soon start a star rating for packaged food. Accordingly, packaged foods will have a number of stars displayed on them which will indicate whether the item is healthy or unhealthy. This ‘health start’ display on the package will help customers ascertain whether the packaged food is harmful or healthy.
FSSAI will also launch a logo for vegan food. It is a part of FSSAI's draft rules for vegan food products. For the first time, FSSAI has come up with draft rules for such products. Just like logos for vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods, vegan foods will have a logo that will be green in colour and the letter ‘V' will help consumers identify a food product as vegan.
PrintWeek and WhatPackaging magazines along with Siegwerk India and Hubergroup India are the hosts for InkWeek.