introductionindia is the secondlargest producer of food, and holds the potential to be the biggest on the global food and agriculture canvas, according to a survey by corporate catalyst india cci. the food industry in india comprises food production and processing firms. the food processing industry is one of the largest in india &ndash it is ranked fifth in terms of production, consumption, export and expected growth.food processing overview indian scenarioindia annually produces 205 million tonne fruit and vegetables, and is the second largest country in farm production in the world, but unfortunately the processing percentage is poor only 4.6 per cent. in contrast, countries like the united states 65 per cent, china 23 per cent and the philippines 78 per cent are far ahead of india in reducing wastage and enhancing the value addition and shelf life of farm products.this is an alarming signal for india, as a large volume of the agricultural produce is wasted. about 35 per cent of the fruit and vegetables are wasted annually due to poor storage facilities, amounting to a revenue loss of rs 500 billion. also, 80 per cent of the vegetables rot due to high water content and the lack of processing facilities, resulting in a revenue loss of rs 125 billion.the agricultural sector is vital for any nation, and in india, it is the principal source of livelihood for more than 58 per cent of the population. i consider the food processing sector to be just an extension of the agriculture sector. the progress of each sector is dependent on the other. in developed countries, because of a developed food processing sector, a demand is created in the agriculture sector. india would follow the same path.indian food industrythe indian food industry is projected to grow from 100 billion to 300 billion by 2015, according to a report by a leading industry body and technopak. during this period, the share of processed foods, in terms of value, is expected to increase from 43 per cent to 50 per cent of the total food production.the food processing industry is of enormous significance for india&39s development, as it has efficiently and effectively linked the nation&rsquos economy, industry and agriculture. the linking of these three pillars has synergised the development process and promoted the growth of the nation to a great extent.the food processing industry is one of the largest industries operating in india and is divided into several segments.the readyto eat rte segment is one of the fastestgrowing segments in food processing, and has huge prospects in future.the rte food industry can be a potential hub for the sustainable growth of new entrepreneurial opportunities creating a flourishing opportunities, and promoting consumption of rte foods among the masses.a strong and effective food processing sector plays a significant role in diversification of agricultural activities, improving value addition opportunities and creating surplus for the export of agrofood productsthe most important point in the food processing industry is that a substantial portion being based in the rural areas, it has a very high employment potential with significantly lower investmentthe indian processed food industry has shown a tremendous potential for exportsthe fruit and vegetable farming for processing is not only employmentintensive, but also enhances the gross and net returns of the farmerscereal processing is one of highest growth sectors to ensure nutritious foodsemerging modern bakeries ensure best employment opportunitiesfood processing industry generates new demand, as the farm sector for more and different agricultural outputs. the development of these industries would relax wage goods constraints to economic growth by enhancing the supply of their productsimpact of new food safety regulations on rte businessthe food safety and standards act fssa, 2006, was born out of the need for an integrated food law, prioritising consumer safety and harmonisation of food standards with international regulations. fssa, 2006 is a new legislation that integrates eight different existing food laws, and is a comprehensive enactment aimed at ensuring public health and safety. the implementation of this act will be a major transformation that ensures to bring about a paradigm shift in the food regulatory scenario of india. as per these regulations, every packaged food need to comply with packaging and labelling regulations.packaging general requirementsa utensil or container made of the following materials or metals, when used in the preparation, packaging and storing of food, shall be deemed to render it unfit for human consumptioncontainers which are rustyenamelled containers which have become chipped and rustycopper or brass containers which are not properly tinned, andcontainers made of aluminium not conforming in chemical composition to is20 specification for cast aluminium and aluminium alloy for utensils or is21 specification for wrought aluminium and aluminium alloy for utensilscontainers made of plastic materials should conform to the following indian standards specifications, used as appliances or receptacles for packing or storing, whether partly or wholly, food articles namelyis10146 specification for polyethylene in contact with foodstuffsis10142 specification for styrene polymers in contact with foodstuffsis10151 specification for polyvinyl chloride pvc, in contact with foodstuffsis10910 specification for polypropylene in contact with foodstuffsis11434 specification for ionomer resins in contact with foodstuffsis11704 specification for ethylene acrylic acid eaa copolymeris12252 specification for polyalkylene terephathalates petis12247 specification for nylon 6 polymeris13601 ethylene vinyl acetate evais13576 ethylene metha acrylic acid emaa, andtin and plastic containers, once used, shall not be reused for the packaging of edible oils and fatsprovided that utensils or containers made of copper, though not properly tinned, may be used for the preparation of sugar confectionery or essential oils, and the mere use of such utensils or containers shall not be deemed to render sugar confectionery or essential oils unfit for human consumption.general packaging requirements for canned productsall containers shall be securely packed and sealedthe exterior of the cans shall be free from major dents, rust, perforations and seam distortions, andcans shall be free from leakssome important definitionslabel any tag, brand, mark, pictorial or other descriptive matter, written, printed, stencilled, marked, embossed, graphic, perforated, stamped or impressed on or attached to container, cover, lid or crown of any food package and includes a product insert.date of manufacture the date on which the food becomes the product as described.date of packaging the date on which the food is placed in the immediate container in which it will be ultimately sold.prepackaged food the food, which is placed in a package of any nature, in such a manner that the contents cannot be changed without tampering it, and is ready for sale to the consumerbest before the date which signifies the end of the period under any stated storage conditions during which the food shall remain fully marketable and shall retain any specific qualities for which tacit or express claims have been made and beyond that date, the food may still be perfectly safe to consume, though its quality may have diminished. however the food shall not be sold if at any stage the product becomes unsafe.principal display panel pdp that part of a label which is intended or likely to be displayed or presented or shown or examined by the customer under normal and customary conditions of display sale or purchase of the commodity contained in the package.all label information shall be given on the pdpall information required on label shall either begrouped together at one place, orpreprinted information at one place and online information in another placewholesale packagea package containinga number of retail packages, where the first such mentioned package is intended for sale, distribution or delivery to an intermediary and is not intended for sale direct to a single consumer, ora commodity of food sold to an intermediary in bulk to enable such intermediary to sell, distribute or deliver such commodity of food to the consumer in smaller quantitiesmultipiece package a package containing two or more individuallypackaged or labelled pieces of the same commodity of identical quantity, intended for retail either in individual pieces or packages as a whole.misbranded food food articles with false, misleading or deceptive claims, imitation, false information about originmanufacture, added with no permitted additives, or undeclared additives.lot number or code number or batch number the number either in numericals or alphabets, or in combination thereof, representing the lot number or code number or batch number, being preceded by the phrase lot number or lot, or code number or code, or batch no or batch, or any distinguishing prefix by which the food can be traced in manufacture and identified in distribution.useby date or recommended last consumption date or expiry date the date which signifies the end of the estimated period under any stated storage conditions, after which the food probably would not have the quality and safety attributes normally expected by the consumers and the food shall not be soldmanner of declarationgeneral conditionsany pictorial devicegraphic matter on label shall not be in conflict with the regulationsdeclarations shall be legible, conspicuous, plain, bold and in contrast of the background colourheight of numerical in the declarationserial numbernet quantityminimum height of numeral1              up to 50gml                                     1mm2              above 50gml up to 200gml               2mm3              above 200gml up to 1kgl                  4mm4              above 1kgl                                       6mmlabelling general requirementsgeneral requirementsevery prepackaged food shall carry a label containing information as required hereunder, unless otherwise provided, namelythe particulars of declaration required under these regulations to be specified on the label shall be inenglish or hindi in devnagri scriptprovided that nothing herein contained shall prevent the use of any other language in addition to thelanguage required under this regulation.prepackaged food shall not be described or presented on any label or in any labelling manner that is false,misleading or deceptive or is likely to create an erroneous impression regarding its character in any respectlabel in prepackaged foods shall be applied in such a manner that they will not become separated from the containercontents on the label shall be clear, prominent, indelible and readily legible by the consumer under normalconditions of purchase and usewhere the container is covered by a wrapper, the wrapper shall carry the necessary information or the labelon the container shall be readily legible through the outer wrapper and not obscured by it, andlicense number shall be displayed on principal display panel along with fssai logolabelling of prepackaged foodsin addition to the general labelling requirements specified above, every package of food shall carry the following information on the label, namelyname of the foodlist of ingredients in descending ordernutritional informationdeclaration regarding vegetarian or nonvegetariandeclaration regarding food additivesname and complete address of manufacturer or packernet content by weight or volumedate of manufacturingpackinglot numberbatch identificationbestbefore dateinstruction for use, andimporter details and country of origin for imported productsnutritional requirementsnutritional information is the declaration of the nutritional composition of the foodshould always be stated in numerical termsmust be declared per 100g or 100ml or per serving of the food on the labelthis declaration should compulsorily comprise of the following informationenergy value in kcalprotein, fat and carbohydrate along with sugar quantity in g, andamount of any other nutrient for which a nutrition health claim is madethe amount of vitamins and minerals in metric unitsfor nutrition declaration made per serving, the amount in g or ml should be mentioned for reference beside the serving measurenutritional information not necessary in case of raw agricultural foods, drinking water, single ingredients and bulk foodswhen a claim is made on the amount or type of fatty acid or the amount of cholesterol, the amount of saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids in g and cholesterol in mg should be declared. along with this, the amount of transfatty acids in g should also be stated.the wholesale package of a food must carry the following declarationsname of the food, including the trade name or description of the foodthe vegetarian logo, consisting of a green colourfilled circle within a square with a green outline. this logo must appear close to the brand namenet quantity of the contentsname of the manufacturer and complete address of the manufacturing premisesthe name and complete address of the packer, where the manufacturer is not the packerevery manufacturer&rsquos and packer&rsquos address must carry the valid licence number, with the prefix lic nothe manufacturer&rsquos licence number should be mentioned in the fssai logofor products manufactured at company plants, the licence number would be that of the company&rsquos manufacturing unit, anda distinctive batch number with the prefix lotbatchcode noheight of the letter for all the declarations must be minimum 1mm.exemptions on labellingwhere the surface area of the package is not more than 100sq cm, the label of such product shall be exempted from the requirements of the list of ingredients, lot or batch number, nutritional information and instructions for use, but this information shall be given on the wholesale package or multipiece packages, as the case may bethe date of manufacture or bestbefore or expiry date may not be required to be mentioned on the package having surface area of less than 30sq cm, but this information shall be given on the wholesale or multipiece packages, as the case may be. exemption given to refilling bottles. if the shelf life is of product is not more than seven days, manufacturing date may not be required, but useby date is to be given, and. in case of multipiece package the list of ingredients, nutritional information, date of packaging, bestbefore and vegetarian logo may not be specifiedprohibitionsspecific restrictions on product labelsthe information on the label has to be appropriately given for the convenience of the consumer. any statement, claim, design, etc., which is false, or may mislead a consumer about the quality, nutrition value or quantity of a food product is strictly prohibited. every food business operator fbo dealing with prepackaged food products has to follow the food safety and standards packaging and labelling regulations, 2011.label not to contain reference of the act, rules or regulations contradictory to required particularsthe label shall not contain any reference to the act or any of the regulations, or any comment on, or reference in the label which, directly or by implication, contradicts, qualifies or modifies such particulars or declaration.label not to use words implying recommended by medical practitionersthere shall not appear in the label of any package containing food for sale the word recommended by medical profession or any words which imply or suggest that the food is recommended, prescribed or approved by medical practitioners.labels not to contain unauthorised use of words showing imitationthere shall not be written in the statement or label attached to any package containing any article of food the word imitation or any word, or words implying that the article is a substitute for any food, unless the use of the said word or words is specifically permitted under these regulations.any fruit syrup, fruit juice, fruit squash, fruit beverages, cordial, crush or any other fruit products standardised under the food safety and standards food products standards and food additives regulations, 2011, which does not contain the prescribed amount of fruit juice or fruit pulp or fruit content shall not be described as a fruit syrup, fruit juice, fruit squash, fruit beverages, cordial, crush or any other fruit product, as the case may be.any food product which does not contain the specified amount of fruit and is likely to deceive or mislead or give a false impression to the consumer that the product contains fruit, whether by use of words or pictorial representation, shall be clearly and conspicuously marked on the label as added name of the fruit flavour.any food product which contains only fruit flavours, whether natural flavours and natural flavouring substances or nature identical flavouring substances, artificial flavouring substances as single or in combination thereof, shall not be described as a fruit product and the word added name of the fruit flavour shall be used in describing such a product.carbonated water containing no fruit juice or fruit pulp shall not have a label which may lead the consumer into believing that it is a fruit product.any fruit and vegetable product alleged to be fortified with vitamin c shall contain not less than 40mg of ascorbic acid per 100g of the product.imitations not to be marked purethe word pure, or any word or words of the same significance, shall not be included in the label of a package that contains an imitation of any food.restriction on advertisementthere shall be no advertisement of any food which is misleading or contravening the provisions of the food safety and standards act, 2006 34 of 2006 or the rulesregulations made there under.noncompliance with regulationsif the food product is not labelled in accordance to the regulations, or it does not provide the required complete information, or the food product is promoted for sale with false, misleading or deceptive claims, it is considered misbranded food and attracts the penalties as followsmisbranded food upto rs 3 lakh, andmisleading advertisement upto rs 10 lakhconclusionthe readytoeat food business is growing, and most of the consumers are literate and aware of the regulations. thus it is very important to adhere to fssa and regulations.the food business operator is responsible for providing the correct and requisite information on the label to the consumers.to sell food and drink products, the label must beclear and easy to readpermanenteasy to understandeasily visible, andnot misleadingfinally, fbo are responsible for all label defects, and it is advisable to comply with the regulations before regulator initiates any action.the author is vicepresident, association of food scientists and technologists, india afst, mysore
