CII appreciates FSSAI’s operationalisation of nutraceutical regulation

The regulation will help resolve issues confronting the sector and create a conducive regulatory environment for the industry to operate

The Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has recently operationalised the much awaited regulation on food or health supplements, nutraceuticals, food for special dietary uses, foods for special medical purpose, functional foods and novel food. The operationalisation of this regulation will help in resolving the issues confronting this sector and in creating a conducive regulatory environment for the industry to operate.

As per the regulation, a period of a year has been provided to food business operators (FBO’s) to comply with the provisions of the regulation i.e. the enforcement shall commence from January 2018. In the interim period, the industry will need to work closely with the Food Authority to ensure a smooth transition to the new regime.

Piruz Khambatta, Co-Chair, CII National Committee on Food Processing Industry and CMD, Rasna said, “The industry appreciates the efforts undertaken by FSSAI in undertaking this massive task. An enormous amount of work is being done by the food regulatory set up in India. The important aspect is that this work is carried out in consultation with all stakeholders and it is a great beginning towards developing science-based globally compatible regulations for this sector.”

Geetu Verma, Chairman, CII Task Force on Food Regulatory Affairs and Executive Director- Foods-Hindustan Unilever, Vice President Foods, Unilever South Asia, congratulated FSSAI on operationalising the regulation on nutraceuticals. She said, “This move will go a long way in creating an enabling regulatory environment and alleviate various issues that exist in the current system.”

Anshu Budhraja, MD, Amway India Enterprises welcomed the operationalisation of nutraceutical regulations. He stated, “This is an enabling step taken by FSSAI to further improve the regulatory environment. The regulations will provide clarity to the food supplement industry by establishing standards for new food categories and create level playing field for the industry.”