Fake organic brands thrive under FSSAI

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been issued a legal notice by the Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI) for issuing the 'organic' certificate and logo to companies caught cheating consumers.

The federation, in its notice on January 3 , has blamed the food authority for letting "fake, wrongly labelled and misbranded organic products" deceive millions of consumers in India.

The CCFI had collected and shared 25-30 samples from across the country where organic brands were clearly found flouting and misusing the certificate and logo issued by the FSSAI. The federation has also alleged that these companies were spreading deliberate misinformation about conventional food consumed by a large number of people.

"These are serious violations by organic brands who are openly flouting various provisions of the FSSAI Act. These popular brands are also spreading fear among the consumers through printing unsubstantiated and unscientific claims," said Rajju Shroff, Chairman, CCFI.

A sample of 'Organic Rava Idli' mix collected by the federation showed the FSSAI licence number but the label did not disclose the percentage of ingredient used at the time of manufacturing. Similarly, the label on a packet of 'Organic Chaat Masala' didn't disclose the percentage of ingredients. Also, the packet had no FSSAI licence number on it.

To top it, it was found that the FSSAI has not booked a single violator for mislabeling products sold as organic in the past eight years.

Some of the samples collected by the federation were manufactured by the biggest brands in the organic industry in the country.

"We have decided to take FSSAI to the court because we feel they are not vigilant and apparently have no intention to crack down on such fake organic brands carrying objectionable, unscientific and unsupportable label claim.

FSSAI has also not drawn any sample of organic products from retail market for tests in the eight years of its existence," said Shroff.

As per Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, no person shall manufacture, distribute, sell or expose for sale or dispatch or deliver to any agent or broker for the purpose of sale, any packaged products which are not marked and labelled in the manner as many be specified by regulations.

"The 'Organic' logo does not and cannot represent any health or safety or nutrition distinction over conventionally produced farm products criteria. The organic logo certifies the product was produced using certain organic production and processing standards," said S. Ganesan, Public Policy Advisor to CCFI.

The federation also demanded the FSSAI to take action against the organic food companies.