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Troubled flavoured water industry writes to FSSAI for separate regulation
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Monday, 18 April, 2011, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Irum Khan, Mumbai
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Chennai-based International Herbal Water Foundation has written to P I Suvrathan, chairman, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, explaining that the flavoured water industry is facing a hazardous time, particularly in the south, due to the absence of an official standard. This is leading to the flavoured water drink being misunderstood as packaged drinking water.
"We, at the flavoured water industry, are facing pin pricks at the hands of implementing officials due to the absence of official standard for flavoured water," said the letter.
The above is due to misunderstanding of the definition of "Packaged Drinking Water," as defined under rule 49 (28) of the PFA Rules, 1955, which states as follows -
"No person shall manufacture, sell or exhibit for sale Packaged Drinking Water except under the Bureau of Indian Standards Certification Mark."
As per the above rule, it is only the "Packaged Drinking Water" which has to be manufactured and sold under BIS mandatory certification mark and flavoured water does not fall under purview.
Item A.33 of the Appendix B of PFA Rules, provides the legal standards / definition of Packaged Drinking Water. This definition does not allow the use of any additives including flavouring substances etc in Packaged Drinking Water. It only allows certain treatments like decantation, filtration, etc.
In view of above the foundation claims that, "Flavoured Water Drink" is not Packaged Drinking Water as defined under the PFA Rules since it contains an additive - Flavouring substance, hence, there is no obligation to have a mandatory BIS certification for "Flavoured Water Drink." This is also corroborated and confirmed by the BIS.
Further, Rule 37 (A) of PFA Rules on the manufacturing of Proprietary Foods, define proprietary food as, "A food which has not been standardised under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules, 1955."
Hence, the Foundation has claimed that the packages containing "Flavoured Water Drink" was a proprietary food (non-standardised product) and was duly labelled as such, hence it followed that it did not have an obligation to manufacture and sell it under BIS Certification.
In an earlier letter written to the FSSAI, Navill Motha, president of IHWF, said, "Every day the member investment is losing lakhs of rupees and their market share due to sudden close of factory by local Implementing authority and district collector."
Though flavoured water did not come under certification of the BIS, the food inspectors insisted its members to obtain the BIS certification.
Thus the Foundation asked the Authority to stop the unwarranted closures of the water processing units without BIS Certification.
In response to the above, the FSSAI convened a meeting of the expert committee to address the issues surrounding the flavoured industry recently, whereby it was decided that instead of drafting separate regulation, the existing provision under PFA needs to be considered for arriving at appropriate decision.
An agenda with relevant documents / Codex standards will be prepared and placed in next meeting of Scientific Panel on food additives, flavourings.
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