The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has approved various amendments to streamline food safety and standards regulations. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Union Health Secretary Apurva Chandra in New Delhi yesterday.
Various amendments across different Food Safety and Standards Regulations were approved in the meeting to do away with Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) or AGMARK certification for food products.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said, after the amendments are finalised, food businesses would not have to go to different authorities for mandatory certification with only FSSAI certification being
made mandatory for food products. It said other approvals include standards of Mead (Honey wine) and Alcoholic Ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages, revision of standards of milk fat products, and standards for Haleem.
The Food Authority also approved a first-of-its-kind and comprehensive manual of methods of analysis for ensuring regulatory compliance of the food products.
The Food Authority is also going to set standards for ‘Haleem’ as part of standards for meat products. Haleem is a dish made of meat, pulses, grains, and other ingredients, which currently don’t have any set standards.