FSS: The Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006. With the vision of developing a system to integrate and consolidate the already existing laws regarding food and food articles into a single science based system which would include the regulatory schemes and ensure the safety of materials FSSAI was formed.

FSSAI: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. This organisation is responsible for conducting all the checks including all the regulatory schemes, methodology for the evaluation of food and food contact materials, providing guidelines for new materials being introduced, also providing guidance with the risks involved and providing appropriate responses to ensure food safety. Moreover further development of this new regulatory scheme, draft regulations were published by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the Gazette of India Extraordinary, part 3; in 2010 and were updated in August 2011.

Food Safety and Standards are divided into Six individual legislative titles: -

• Contaminants, Toxins and Residues
• Food Products Standards and Food Additives
• Laboratory and Sample Analysis
• Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses
• Packaging And Labelling
• Prohibition and Restriction on Sales

• Every packed food is supposed to have a label upon it, containing basic information about it.
• The label on the goods must not be misleading in any way, must not contain any false information which further may lead to people having erroneous impressions towards the product.
• The label must not be a temporary attachment to the article, but permanent so that proper stated use of the product is done.
•   The content provided on the article must be clear enough to read, permanent and readily legible by the consumer under normal conditions.
• Labels must be provided on the outermost surface of the whole article; in case of outer wrappings, labels must be present on the outermost surface.

• Overall Migration: The material shall also comply with the overall migration limits as detailed below when tested by the method prescribed in IS: 9845-19817.

• However, the value of the overall migration limit shall be equal to 10 mg/dm” of the surface of the material or article in the following cases:

  • Containers or articles which are similar to containers or which in any case may be filled to a capacity less than 250 ml provided it is possible to calculate the surface area of contact with the foodstuff.

  • Sheets, foils and other non-fillable articles for which ratio between the surface area of the material or article and the quantity of foodstuffs in contact may not be calculated.

Milk and Milk Products

• Automatic Sealing of the containers and the filling of the contains(bottles) must be done mechanically
• Reusable containers must not be used in case of milk and its products unless it has a container that can actually be used after washing/cleaning.
• Sealing must be done where the last heat treatment is carried out so as to prevent any kind of ill effects of the surroundings on the product; followed by storing it in the storage units.

Edible Oils/Fats

• Tin plates used for packaging edible oils and fats should adhere to the prime grade quality criteria as updated from time to time in BIS Standards No. 1993 or 13995 or 9025 or 13954 for Tin, and IS No. 10325 or 10339 for Fats.

Fruits and Vegetable Products

• For canned juices,fruits,vegetables
  • a tin plate conforming to standards stated above can be used.
• For bottled fruits,juices,vegetables;
  • the containers capable of providing an airtight environment for the products must be used.
• For Pickles
  • Tin containers, Glass bottles covered with a lining of 250 gauge or suitable lacquered cans shall be used
• For Preserves, Jams, Jellies
  • Clean jars, new canisters, aluminium containers shall be used and they must be sealed properly
• For Tomato Ketchup and Sauces
  • Clean Bottles shall be used. If acidity does not exceed 0.5%as acetic acid, open top sanitary cans may also be used.

Canned Meat Products

• Meat products in sealed containers must be treated to prevent spoiling under commercial storage and transportation conditions.

• Sanitary top cans made out of tin conforming to the standards shall be used; sealed airtight after being filled. The lacquer used must be insoluble in brine and fat.
• For Pork meat the inside of the cans must be coated with edible gelatin, lard or lined with vegetable parchment before being filled.

Drinking water (Mineral and Packaged)

• Clean, colourless, hygienic and tamper proof bottles must be used made out of:-
  • Polyethylene: conforming to IS 10146
  • Polyvinyl chloride: conforming to IS 10151
  • Polyalkylene terephthalate (PET or PBT): conforming to IS 12252
  • Polypropylene: conforming to IS 10910
• Food Grade polycarbonate glass bottles for preventing adulteration of water.

All packaging materials of plastic origin shall pass the prescribed Overall Migration and Colour Migration limits.

• Identification of compliance requirements under various guidelines including all data requirements.​ 

• Data gap analysis and pre-assessment support​ 

• Technical documentation support​ 

• Pre and post submission support and technical liaison with authorities.