Indian food regulatory authority, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, is likely to do away with approvals for food products if the ingredients used in them have received clearance before itself and are declared safe.
This plan, if it gets implemented, is expected to bring a huge relief to the food industry with the introduction of a norm accepted worldwide.
FSSAI senior official told The Economic Times: "We are in the process of formulating regulations for product approval process. We thought we could take this opportunity to review the procedure rather than just convert the advisory into regulation."
The regulatory authority had started preparing for new rules after its earlier advisory was opposed by the food industry and later was nullified by the Supreme Court on grounds of having no legal approval.
According to the food processing industry, product approval process had led to "inspector raj". This process also drew criticism from food processing minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal over the impacts of regulatory overreach after the regulatory authority implemented a nationwide ban on Nestle's Maggi noodle brand in June.
The regulatory authority has released a list of permitted food additives and the food items in which they can be used and at what level.
The central government also recently appointed senior IAS officer Pawan Kumar Agarwal as FSSAI CEO, replacing Yudhvir Singh Malik, under whose leadership the FSSAI imposed the ban on Maggi.
In December, Nestle Maggi Noodles again was faced with a fresh controversy, with the food regulator filing an appeal with the Supreme Court against the lifting of the ban on the noodle brand.
The FSSAI approached the Supreme Court seeking a ban on Nestle's Maggi Noodles. Supreme Court has sought a response from Nestle India on appeal by FSSAI. Nestle has been asked to file a response by 5 January and a hearing on the case would be held on 13 January, reports The Times of India.
The Swiss food company had relaunched Maggi Noodles on 9 November across India after the samples were cleared by government-accredited laboratories following a five-month ban. Nestle had commenced production of the instant noodles at five of its plants in Nanjangud (Karnataka), Moga (Punjab), Bicholim (Goa) and Tahliwal (Himachal Pradesh) and Pantnagar (Uttarakhand).
Image: Maggi Noodles faced the regulatory heat again in December. Photo: Courtesy of foto76/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
