Minister of Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal has said that as the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has streamlined the regulations to ease product approvals; she is optimistic that the foreign direct investment in the food processing sector will likely go up by at least 25 per cent. This will ease the process of doing and expanding business in the food processing sector. Badal said that “With the new regulations in place, the industry’s concerns regarding product approvals will be addressed to a large extent. And I am optimistic that in coming months, there will be an increase of 25 per cent FDI in the food processing sector.”
Badal stated that the approval process has been relaxed. Now the products with ingredients that are approved by the regulator may not require any approval, which will lead to more innovation and product launches and promote traditional food.
She pointed that the main argument was that proprietary food products, for which standards are not defined in the food safety and standards regulations, but have approved and standardised additives should not require product-by-product approval. This approach espoused by the Food Processing Ministry has now found favour with the regulator. The proprietary food has now been defined as an article of food that has not been standardised under the regulations but which contains approved ingredients and additives. From now on, such products may not require regulatory approval.
FSSAI has issued a notice for operationalisation of standards for proprietary food which mentions that proprietary food does not include dietary supplements, nutraceuticals and genetically modified food products, among others. And the responsibility for the safety of food products will be on food business operators. Besides, The regulator has also uploaded a list of more than 8,000 permitted food additives, the food items in which they can be used and the recommended maximum level.