8 critical changes that a food business operator (FBO) should know in the refurbished FSS Act

Dovetailing the Act with amended regulations and lessons learned over the years.

In continuation with our previous update dated 9th June 2018 “ FSSAI to revisit the norms for penalty and punishments”, FSSAI has finally launched the proposed modifications in the FSS Act 2006 which is the standing pillar of the organization. In the light of many changes that the leadership team has bought over the period in the rules & regulations, FSSAI has restructured the Act to align with those amendments. Consequently, the renewed Act would be watertight and empower FSSAI during judicial interpretations & enforcement. As currently, there are loose ends which were being exploited by the industry in various instances.

In this context we are bringing you the 8 critical changes that could impact your business plan and your outlook towards food safety compliance. In addition, the other changes in the notification include organization structure, roles & responsibilities of the officials, definitions, laboratories, sampling etc, which synergies FSSAI with the regional & state bodies. As a result, We took an approach of filtering these 104 changes based on the historic significance and highlighted those that could have immediate effect to your business

8 critical changes that a food business operator (FBO) should know in the refurbished FSS Act, 2006

S No	Critical Change	Change proposed	FSSAI Rationale	Point reference in the original table	Impact assessment by Smart Complianz
1	Inclusion of “Export” in the purview of FSSAI	Amendment in the preamble  - To regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale, export & import	Export activity under the ambit  of FSS Act	1, 9 & 13	Currently, FSSAI doesn’t regulate the exporting business. Henceforth, FSSAI rules & regulations may be applicable for all 100% exporting units too along with exporters
2	Expanding the definition of “Claim”	Section 3 (d)  - Claim is means any representation in printed or oral form etc., which suggests or implies that a food has particular characteristics  related to its origin, nutritional properties, nature, production, processing, composition or any other quality	To harmonize the definition with CODEX	3	Food businesses to review the existing product portfolio and align with the revised definition of claim
3	Updating the definition of “Food” – Packing material including ink is included in the definition	Section 3 (I) (j) – 1.       The word any animal feed is removed in the definition 2.       Added “packing material including printing inkfor food packaging that comes in contact with food”	Since animal feed and fodder is an essential part of food chain and food chain cannot be made safe without regulating animal feed As printing ink for food packaging as well as packing material also come into contact with food	8, 15	Industries in the manufacture of animal feed will be regulated by FSSAI along with food packaging companies for holistic view. More information on the rules and regulations for these industries is awaited
4	Updating the definition of “Manufacturer”	Section 3 (I) (zd) – Following shall be inserted Or its ingredients including food additives or processing aids or packaging material including printing ink used for packaging which come into contact with food	To address the pragmatic issues of enforcement and also considering the past judicial interpretations which lead to release of food where safety cannot be ensured	8, 15	Food business (along with its allied parties) should align to this  definition
5	Separating definition of Proprietary and Novel foods	Section 22 (4) – is allocated for proprietary foods Section 22(5) – is allocated for Novel foods	Segregated the definition and made more elaborate	34 & 35	Prior to 2017, there are no regulations governing the food in the categories of Proprietary and Novel foods. However, upon recent changes in the regulations the definition has been segregated in the act
6	Misusing FSSAI Logo	Section 24 (2) (d) – which creates an impression that food article is approved by FSSAI or any authority appointed under the Act	To prevent misusing the name and logo of FSSAI	36	Often, FSSAI logo is mistaken to quality or safety of the product.
7	Emphasis on the safety of imported products and “Liability of importers”	Section 25 – Insert – (3) All imported food would be subject to inspection, sampling and testing based on the risk associated with food at the point of entry Imported food shall be further subject to surveillance, sampling and testing of food items available in the market	Importers has to be responsible here as manufacturer or packer located outside the country cannot be bought under the ambit of Act	39, 41, 42, and 43	Importers bringing in food products into India shall be aware of these exclusive clauses as these are subjected to strengthen the outlook of the Act
8	Punishment of Unsafe food	Section 59 – Wherever they occur, the word “result” shall be substituted by the word “may result”	Practically grievous or non grievous injury due to adulteration in food doesn’t occur instantaneously rather it occurs as a cumulative effect	89	FSSAI has not left any window to curb the menace of adulteration of food

Source: www.fssai.gov.in – please refer news feed section titled Letter related to amendment of FSS Act

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