If you are into food products manufacturing in India, your business can be immensely benefited by getting food safety certification. Food Safety certification applies to packaged food products and is administered by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) instituted under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. The organization lays down scientific standards for food products and aims at regulating their manufacture, storage, and sale in a way ensuring the supply of safe and wholesome food to the consumers. The awareness regarding the benefits of purchasing certified foods is fast increasing among the consumers. Businesses into food products arena need to get their products certified under this clause to ensure they effectively compete with the other products in the market. While it is mandatory for certain classes of food products to get Food Safety Certification, other classes of packaged food products can get immense marketable benefits by getting certified. We offer proven assistance for businesses to obtain food safety certification.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been instituted by the Government of India under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. This act consolidated all the various kinds of food safety acts passed during earlier times. While the earlier acts were letting the food related matters handled by different departments and ministries of the Indian government, the FSS Act 2006 brought in the total control of the food products regulation activity under the purview of the FSSAI. The principal responsibility of the FSSAI is to evolve scientific standards for the articles covered as food and regulate the various processes including manufacturing, storing, distribution, selling and importing food products in India in a way giving room for wholesome food to be available for human consumption.
While a product is approved by the FSSAI, it is attested that the ingredients and additives used in the manufacturing meet the standards laid down by the regulations forming part of the said act. If your product contains those ingredients and additives whose standards are not notified by FSSAI, then you will need to apply for and obtain product approval. Thus, there are two distinctive sets of rules and regulations applied for food products detailed in the FSS Act and those that are not.
The list of documents you need to submit for getting product approval include filled in application form as found in the department’s website, typed application form for each of the products to be approved if you are seeking approval for more than one food product, Certificate of analysis issued by the National Accredited Board of Laboratories (NABL), data sheet pertaining to the shelf life of the product, copy of the original or prototype label, list of ingredients and additives with information on their proportions, nutrient profile studies, risk assessment reports, toxicological studies, and clinical trial reports of the given product in human beings, safety evaluation data, copy of agreement signed between the manufacturer and marketer, an affidavit by the manufacturer as per the format found in the board’s website and others. The benefits of getting your product approved by the act is rather crucial and can determine the marketability and competitive worth of your product.
