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FSSAI's Ninth meet discusses standards for olive oil, caffeinated beverages
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Thursday, 21 June, 2012, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Archana Aroor, Mumbai
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fiogf49gjkf0d With S N Mohanty taking over as the CEO at Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the Authority conducted its Ninth Authority Meeting recently. An official from FSSAI confirmed this to FnB News in a chat over telephone.
Conducted in the presence of chairperson K Chandramouli, the meeting discussed large number of issues with stakeholders. These included draft standards for olive oil, draft standards for caffeinated beverages, use of nutritional ingredients in various food items, amendment to the food safety & standards (contaminant, toxins and residues) regulations, fixing of antioxidant limit in honey and draft import regulations.
To begin with, the meeting took note of CEO's report on activities of FSSAI during the year 2011-12. Also, the challenges before the Authority during the year 2012-13 were spelt out.
Arun K Panda, joint secretary, ministry of health and family welfare, informed that a draft scheme would be formulated that would include an MoU (memorandum of understanding) with states so that they could strengthen their enforcement machinery, laboratories, information, education and communication.
The Authority, which discussed standards on olive oil, agreed upon most points. Regarding caffeinated beverages, Mona Malhotra, one of the members suggested, "and sportsperson" which was mentioned in the Clause 4(b) of the draft standards could be deleted and warning the consumer "not recommended for children, pregnant or lactating women, persons sensitive to caffeine" should be displayed in the principle display panel in bold with a bigger font.
"No nutrition information including vitamin and nutritive claims would be given on the label should be deleted in the draft standards as it went against the labelling regulations," she said.
Another member, Vasundhara Deodhar, president, Mumbai Grahak Panchayat, said, "The positioning of message, font size to have prominence and important messages should be bilingual - English and Hindi." The chairperson agreed for this.
The meeting further discussed the use of nutritional ingredients in various food items whereby the Authority noted the recommendation of the scientific panel on functional foods, nutraceuticals, dietetic products and other similar products and scientific committee on the draft notification of the central committee of the food standards (CCFS).
The suggestions were that under Clause 2(III), the word "Infant foods section" mentioned should be defined in the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011.
"For fortified atta and fortified maida, "any extraneous matter including" may be added in the text and final text may be read as "it shall be free from any extraneous matter including hair and excreta,"" said Dr S Girija from National Institute of Fisheries Post, Harvest Technology and Training (NIFPHATT).
However, Indrani Kar, director and head, food division, Confederation of Indian Industry, pointed out that zinc had been excluded as an ingredient for fortified atta and clarified that the panel concerned had discussed the matter and referred to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for comments.
The FSSAI noted the recommendation of the scientific panel on pesticides and antibiotic residues and scientific committee on the draft notification approved by the CCFS and approved the draft as its agenda No. 4.
Further, it also noted the recommendation of the panel and committee on contaminants in food chain whereby the scientific committee approved the blue-tinted plastic containers used for bulk packaging, mineral water and packaged drinking water.
The ban on potassium bromate as food additive, use of carboxymethyl cellulose as an emulsifying and stabilising agent in various foods (chocolate, dressings and sauces), use of gellan gum in dairy-based drinks, use of methyl cellulose in bread, biscuits, cakes, pastries and mayonnaise, and salad dressing was noted in the meeting.
Also it considered the recommendations of the panels on food additives, flavourings, processing aids and materials in contact with the food and scientific committee on use of polydextrose (INS 1200) in carbonated and non- carbonated beverages were discussed and approved.
It also approved the pesticides and antibiotic residues and scientific committee for fixation of antibiotics in honey where the chairperson informed that standards prescribed, would be communicated to the agriculture ministry.
The Authority then invited suggestions on draft import regulations from all stakeholders.
Bejon Mishra, an international expert on food, a member of FSSAI, and one of the stakeholders, commented that the draft was old and it was needed to be reconsidered in order to put up for public consultations.
Lastly, the training programme for food safety regulations for the authority in the meeting was approved by the members. The programme will help educate consumers about the FSS Act 2006.
Other suggestions and contributions from the members were considered. For example, a proposal from the food safety commissioner, Andhra Pradesh, about online registration be made on automatic mode with post facto inspection was agreed upon.
Formation of a separate scientific panel for fish and fishery products was also looked at as an important issue in the context of increasing imports.
Meanwhile, the chairperson mentioned that a suitable personnel policy that included recruitment and promotion was needed to be drawn.
Further it was decided that the activities which were taken up by FSSAI would be reflected on its website and that it would be updated on a continuous basis.
The next meeting is expected to be held in August 2012.
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