Ayurveda Regulations

 https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1824783

Ministry of Ayush and Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) under MoHFW, India’s apex body for food regulation has formulated regulations of safety & quality standards for food products under ‘Ayurveda Aahara’ category. This comprehensive initiative will ensure manufacturing of quality Ayurveda food products and help in expanding the international market for Make-In-India products. The Ministry of Ayush is confident these regulations will further strengthen India’s global positioning as a custodian of Ayush system. 

According to the regulation, manufacturing and marketing of ‘Ayurveda Aahara’ products will now adhere to strict Food Safety and Standards (Ayurveda Aahara) Regulations, 2022 rules and will be available in market only after license/approval from FSSAI. A special logo has been created for “Ayurveda Aahara” category, which will enable easier identification and reinforce quality in Ayurveda food products. 

The Ministry of Ayush with an understanding that food safety and quality is a shared responsibility between manufacturers, consumers and everyone has a role to play to ensure food we consume is safe and healthy. This has been further strengthened after resurgence of COVID-19 pandemic brought the focus on food, nutrition, health, immunity and sustainability.

According to the regulations, all food prepared in accordance with the recipes/ingredients/processes described in the authoritative books of Ayurveda will be considered as “Ayurveda Aahara”. Food recipes and ingredients for promoting health, specific physiological needs, and foods specified for consumption during or post specified diseases, disorders referred as Pathya in Ayurved are covered under these regulations.

The labelling of ‘Ayurveda Aahara’ shall specify the intended purpose, the target consumer group, recommended duration of use and other specific requirements. Health claims and disease risk reduction claims for the different categories of 'Ayurveda Aahara' and their approval process shall be in accordance with the requirements specified in regulations. However, ‘Ayurveda Aahara’ will not include Ayurvedic drugs or proprietary Ayurvedic medicines and medicinal products, cosmetics, narcotic or psychotropic substances and herbs. Further, Ayurveda Aahara is also not recommended to young children below age 2 years.

‘Ayurveda Aahara’ needs prior approval, the same shall be in accordance with the Food Safety and Standards (Approval for Non-Specific Food and Food Ingredients) Regulation, 2017. FSSAI shall constitute an Expert Committee under the Ministry of Ayush consisting of relevant experts including representatives of FSSAI for providing recommendation on approval of claims and products and the committee shall also empower to address concerns regarding registration or licensing or certification or laboratory accreditation or testing or quality issues related to “Ayurveda Aahara”.

Food business operator to adhere quality parameters for the ingredients as per the criteria defined under Food Safety and Standards Regulations, relevant BIS specifications.

dairy terms on food labels

 FSSAI has issued a press release dated 3rd september, 2021 advising that use of dairy terms on the labels of plant based beverages and food items are not allowed under the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 as encapsulated in its ‘General Standards for Milk and Milk Products’. The Food Business Operators will be given 15 days' time to improve/ modify their labels, failing which enforcement action will be initiated against them.

Gist of the circular is given below:

The Food Regulator, in a recent order, has directed the State Food Safety Departments to investigate and identify specific instances for violation of the use of dairy terminology for non-dairy or plant based products by Food Business Operators (FBOs).

In case of any violation, FBOs may be granted 15 days’ time to suitably improve/modify their product labels and strictly comply with the relevant provisions of FSS (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulation, 2011 before the Food Safety Departments take any enforcement action. This step will ensure an appropriate enforcement action against such defaulting FBOs as per the provisions of Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act, 2006 and Rules/Regulations made thereunder.

As per the ‘General Standards for Milk and Milk Products’ under the ‘Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011’, use of any dairy term(s) for a product which is not milk/ a milk product or a composite milk product (e.g. plant based products / beverages) is prohibited and any such action is in contravention of the said Regulations. Further, the term ‘curd’ is also not considered a dairy term exclusively for such products, and has been associated with non-dairy products such as ‘soybean curd’ in our regulations which also is in consistency with the relevant Codex standards.