The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), in its recent direction, has asked food business operators (FBOs) to comply with maximum limits of trans fatty acids to 5% by weight as prescribed earlier by the regulator while allowing to use existing stocks of the packaging material for next six months up to June 30.


The notification in this regard was published in the month of May last year which was extended up to August, further to February 17. The direction stated, “After due consideration of representations received from the stakeholders, requesting for deferment of implementation of the said regulation for the purpose of utilising the existing stock of their packaging material, the timeline for compliance with Notification No. 1 (94) 2015/ Notification P&L/ Enf/ FSSAI dated May 25, 2016, is hereby further extended up to June 30, 2017.”

Meanwhile, the direction with regard to compliance with maximum limits of the trans fatty acids, stated, “Food business operators shall comply with the Notification No. 4/1505/30/2011 dated August 4, 2015, with respect to maximum limit of trans fatty acids as not more than 5% by weight with effect from February 28, 2017.”

Atul Chaturvedi, president, Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), said, “The regulator has addressed major concern again with allowing usage of packaging material. Several major brands have filed their representations with the regulator and regulator has always been considering industry views. The last extension which regulator gave came with a charge fee that has to be paid to enable extension which ensured that industry players which are filing representations are really affected by the amendments in the law.”

“The limit of total trans fatty acids is a healthy move which is actually a trend recently. People are moving towards healthy products. Soon will be the time when brands will have a healthy edition of the products like chips and usual snacks. The regulator, in this instance, has stated that it wants brands to serve healthier products. I am sure that the food industry will definitely comply with the direction,” he added.

A source from FSSAI said that the established brands which are few in number are filing representations as they are the ones who stock bulk printed packaging material. He also held that the small players will not be able to pay every month the charges for using existing packaging material and small players have a small area of operation.

Moreover, the extension will cost the charge or the fee as directed by FSSAI in its last direction regarding the use of existing stocks of the packaging material.