FSSAI — Guides, Updates & Practical Insights

Regulations 1.1 and 1.2 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011: commencement, definitions and how the product standards, additives and appendices fit together

The Regulations came into force on or after 5th August, 2011, with a few printed exceptions that started six months later. Regulation 1.2 now defines only a small set of terms, because many entries are marked omitted. The substantive rules are the product standards of Chapter 2 (sub-chapters 2.1 to...

Regulation 2.1.1 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011: general standards for milk and milk products, composite milk products and dairy terms

Only a food that meets the definition of milk may be named milk, and a product that meets a milk product's standard may carry that product's name. A product in which non-milk constituents take the place of milk constituents is an analogue and is not milk, a milk product or a composite milk product...

Regulations 2.1.2–2.1.7 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011: standards for milk, flavoured milk, evaporated and condensed milk, khoa, and cream and malai

Milk of each class must meet its own minimum milk fat and SNF figures, which the standard prints in a table of classes from buffalo milk to skimmed milk. Flavoured milk must keep the fat and SNF of the milk it is made from. Evaporated and sweetened condensed milk each come in four types. Khoa and...

Regulations 2.1.8–2.1.12 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011: milk fat products including ghee, butter, milk and cream powders, dairy whitener and whey powder

Ghee, milk fat and anhydrous milk fat each have a column of limits for moisture, milk fat, Butyro-refractometer reading, Reichert Meissl and Polenske values, the fatty-acid acidity parameter and more. Butter comes as table butter and white or cooking butter, powders in four types, and dairy...

Regulations 2.1.13–2.1.16 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011: dahi and fermented milks, ice cream and kulfi, frozen desserts, and chhana and paneer

Ice cream is a frozen milk product, while a frozen dessert is made with edible vegetable oil or fat having a melting point of not more than 37 °C, or with vegetable protein products, and may also contain milk fat and milk solids. Each has three types by composition, and the type must be on the...

Regulations 2.1.17–2.1.24 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011: cheese and cheese products, edible casein, lactose, milk and whey protein concentrates, colostrum and dairy permeate powders

Cheese must be made from milk heat treated at least equivalent to pasteurization. Its composition table gives maximum moisture and minimum milk fat for each type, from hard-pressed cheese to processed cheese spread. Regulation 2.1.19 is printed as omitted. Casein, lactose, MPC, WPC, colostrum and...

Regulation 2.2.1 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011: standards for edible vegetable oils, including mustard, groundnut, coconut, palm and blended oils

Each oil must be clear, with no rancidity, suspended matter, separated water, added colour or flavour, or mineral oil, and must pass the argemone oil test. The parameters are the Butyro-refractometer reading or refractive index, saponification value, iodine value, unsaponifiable matter and acid...

Regulations 2.2.2–2.2.9 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011: interesterified and edible fats, margarine, vanaspati, fatty acid composition and peroxide value

Interesterified fat, partially hydrogenated soyabean oil, margarine, fat spreads, vanaspati and bakery shortening each carry a trans fatty acid ceiling of not more than 5 per cent by weight, stepping down to 3% from 1st January, 2021 and 2% from 1st January, 2022. Both dates have passed. Vanaspati...

Regulations 2.3.1–2.3.15 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011: thermally processed fruits, vegetables, curries and soups, fruit and vegetable juices, nectars, pulps, purees and soup powders

Thermally processed fruits and vegetables must meet a minimum drained weight and a container fill rule, and each juice has a minimum total soluble solids figure in degrees Brix and a maximum acidity. Sweetened juice, sweetened mango pulp and sweetened pulps must be described as sweetened once added...