India Food Regulator FSSAI has notified standards for requirement for specific migration limits of substances from plastic materials intended to be in contact with articles of food. It added antimony and phthalic acid to the list.
Read: August 2022 Issue of Food InfoTech Magazine.
According to the India Food Regulator FSSAI, in the regulation number 4 of the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging) Regulations, 2018, related to the plastic materials intended to come in contact with food products, the new entries shall be added wherein antimony’s maximum migration limit has been fixed at 0.04mg/kg and 1.5mg/kg for phthalic acid, bis (2- ethylhexyl) ester (DEHP).
Also, the Food Authority has added four vegetable oils in the list of claims under the advertising and claims regulations. These vegetable oils include chia oil, avocado oil, sunflower seed high oleic acid and safflower seed oil –high oleic acid.
For chia oil the food businesses can claim (i) Rich in Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid (Omega-3 PUFA, Alpha linolenic acid); (ii) Alpha linolenic acid is an essential fatty acid that contributes to the maintenance of normal blood cholesterol levels, for avocado oil the FBOs can claim – Rich in Monounsaturated Fatty Acids (MUFA) that helps to maintain normal blood cholesterol levels, for sunflower seed oil the FBOs can claim (i) Rich in Monounsaturated Fatty Acids (MUFA) that helps to maintain normal blood cholesterol levels; (ii) Contains Tocopherols which are natural antioxidants and for safflower seed oil the FBOs can claim -Rich in Monounsaturated Fatty Acids (MUFA) that helps to maintain normal blood cholesterol levels.
The FSSAI notification says that these regulations shall come into force on March 1, 2023.
According to the FSSAI, the claim statements provided may be used on labels or advertisements, as the case may be, while terms such as ‘Rich, Contains’ shall be in accordance with conditions specified in the regulations and the FBOs may choose to use same or similar terms in the claim statements while ensuring no change in the intent and meaning of the claim.
