Dec 29, 2018
Food Inspector Tightens Ecommerce’s Safety Belt
Issues revised norms that will impact players such as Grofers, BigBasket, Swiggy and Zomato
New Delhi: The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued revised guidelines that directly impact online food and grocery operators such as Grofers and BigBasket as well as food delivery platforms like Swiggy and Zomato.
The national food regulator said it’s stepping up scrutiny of ecommerce food companies because there can be no compromise on last-mile delivery and safety of food products.
Food products offered for sale are liable to sampling at any point in the supply chain. Companies will also need to provide an indicative image of the food on their platforms so that consumers can recognise the product. All mandatory information mentioned in the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act will also have to be provided to consumers before purchase and only fresh food should be delivered to consumers.
“With increasing use of ecommerce platforms by consumers, the guidelines are aimed at stepping up vigilance on safety of food provided to consumers,” FSSAI chief executive Pawan Agarwal said. “These guidelines will help in building confidence in the ecommerce food business sector and increase its credibility.”
The guidelines are part of directives issued by the regulator to re-operationalise licensing and registration of ecommerce food companies.
“While we are compliant with all regulatory guidelines such as lastmile delivery and shelf life, we also ensure that our merchant partners follow the same,” said online grocery startup Grofers’ chief executive Albinder Dhindsa. “We don’t work with merchants who don’t have the necessary compliance. That is a challenge that the regulator has to enforce.”
Food should have a remaining shelf life of 30% or 45 days before expiry at the time of delivery, the guidelines said.
Delivery service company Zomato said food safety was of paramount importance.
“We welcome any move by FSSAI which will help us make the restaurant industry safer for consumers,” a spokesperson said. “We provide last-mile delivery to our users and are taking stringent steps to ensure the safety of food.”
Zomato has delisted ‘thousands’ of restaurants from its food-ordering platform over the past few months, she said.
“While we are already compliant with the mandatory directives in the FSS Act, we will work with the regulator on any measures required to drive development in the ecosystem,” the spokesperson added.
BigBasket, Swiggy and Uber Eats didn’t respond to queries.
“Food business operators need to ensure that the last-mile delivery is undertaken by trained personnel and that the safety of food products is not compromised at the time of delivery,” according to the guidelines.
Online food and grocery startups, which have transitioned from a hyperlocal to inventory-led business model, have been growing on the back of greater efficiencies in supply chain and technology, cutting costs and doing away with unprofitable products.
A recent Crisil report said online food and grocery is expected to be the fastest-growing segment in online retail and will almost quadruple in the next three years to Rs 10,000 crore in revenue. The report said investments in technology, same and next-day delivery options, and business-to-business food services, will further aid growth of the segment. Estimates peg the overall food and grocery market in India at $400 billion.
Andhra bans gutkha, paan masala
Becomes 17th state in country to impose ban on them
The Andhra Pradesh government on January 9 banned manufacture, storage, sale, transport and distribution of gutkha, paan masala and similar chewable products that contain tobacco and nicotine. The ban has come into force with immediate effect. With this, Andhra Pradesh becomes the 17th state in India to ban tobacco products (see box).
Official orders State Banned on
Bihar May 30, 2012
Chhattisgarh July 24, 2012
Delhi September 11, 2012
Goa October 2, 2005
Gujarat September 11, 2012
Himachal Pradesh July 13, 2012
Haryana August 15, 2012
Jharkhand July 24, 2012
Kerala May 25, 2012
Madhya Pradesh April 1, 2012
Maharashtra July 20, 2012
Rajasthan July 18, 2012
Punjab August 26, 2012
Mizoram September, 2012
Uttarakhand January 1, 2013
Odisha January 1, 2013
Andhra Pradesh January 9, 2013
Civil society organisations and anti-tobacco activists have long been demanding ban on these products because they are highly addictive and can cause cancer. There are 3,095 chemical components in chewing tobacco products, and 28 of them have been proved carcinogenic. Over 90 per cent of oral cancer is directly associated with tobacco use. India has the highest prevalence of oral cancer with 75,000 to 80,000 new cases reported every year. The gutkha and paan masala industry in the country is huge and could be pegged at anywhere between Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 crore.
The ban is under the Food Safety & Standards (Prohibition and Restriction on Sales) Regulations of 2011 and the Food Safety and Standards Act of 2006. Under the Act, the food safety commissioner has the power to prohibit, in the interest of public health, production, sale and distribution of any food item all over the state or in certain regions of the state for a period not exceeding one year. According to this Act, tobacco and nicotine should not be used in any food product. The ban in Andhra Pradesh is based on the recommendations by the food safety commissioner.
Andhra Pradesh is the highest producer of tobacco in the country. In 2011-12, the state grew tobacco in 132,000 hectares and produced 207,000 tonnes. Even while many other states banned gutkha and paan masala, Andhra Pradesh was dragging its feet in taking stern action.
The government has asked the food safety commissioner, departments of health, police, vigilance & enforcement, commercial taxes, transport, labour, municipal administration and the panchayati raj to take immediate steps to ensure enforcement of the ban. The departments of information and public relations and consumer affairs have been asked to widely publicise the ban and create consumer awareness on the ill effects of gutka and paan masala.
Explained FSSAI revised norms: Here's how online grocers and food delivery platforms will be affected
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) recently issued revised guidelines which will impact online food platform such as Swiggy, Zomato and online grocers like Grofers, BigBasket etc.
New Delhi: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) recently issued revised guidelines which will directly impact online food and grocery operators like Grofers and BigBasket, Swiggy and Zomato. According to the regulator, there should not be any compromise with the food quality and safety of food products.
As per the revised guidelines, food products offered can now be sampled at any point in the supply chain. Companies are also required to provide an indicative image of the food on their platforms in order to help consumers recognise the product. Companies are also to provide all mandatory information mentioned in the Food Safety and Standards (FSS) Act to consumers before purchase.
It is mandatory for companies to sell food products that have a remaining shelf life of either 30% or 45 days before expiry at the time of delivery. The revised norms also state clearly that only fresh food should be delivered to customers. This is to make sure that companies do not try to old/close-to-expiry food products to the consumers. Online food companies and grocers will have to comply with the fresh set of regulations.
Grofers welcomed the revised guidelines. Grofers CEO Albinder Dhindsa told ET Now that the new regulations do not change much for players like them in the Grocery space since they sell packaged food products to their customers and they already meet FSSAI regulations for that. He further added that they make sure that their merchant partners also comply with the guidelines.
Dhindsa also mentioned that they are still evaluating the impact of DIPP policy on their business. It is not great if guidelines change suddenly because it impacts small vendors, he added.
It may be noted that a Crisil report recently stated that online food and grocery is expected to be the fastest-growing segment in online retail and will almost grow four times to Rs 10,000 crore in revenue within the next three years. The report also mentioned that estimates the overall food and grocery market in India to be at $400 billion.
Aluminium-coated boxes, plastic bags contaminate food’
Loose packaging such as coloured and black carry bags, disposable containers with aluminium coating and sweet boxes have emerged as major contaminants of packaged food, prompting the food regulator to come up with new regulation on food packaging.
Around 80% of food samples packed in coloured carry bags, 59% in black carry bags and over 24% in aluminium coated disposable containers and 21% in sweet boxes were found chemically contaminated, findings of a national survey of food packaging material conducted by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) shows.
In order to curb the menace, the regulator is set to notify new regulations for food packaging which will prohibit packaging material made of recycled plastics including carry bags for packaging, storing, carrying or dispensing articles of food.
Besides, taking cognizance of the carcinogenic effect of inks and dyes, the new regulations also prohibit the use of newspaper and such other materials for packing or wrapping of food articles and includes respective Indian standards for printing inks for use on food packages, an official said.
The new regulation are likely to be notified on Monday, he said.
Findings of the national survey shows the packaging material used in the organized sector is largely safe, while it highlights major discrepancies in the unorganized sector. More than 13% of samples from the unorganized sector failed testing standards showing migration of chemical and heavy metals contamination from packaging materials.
“The new packaging regulation would raise the bar of food safety in India to the next level. The implementation of the regulations may be challenge in the unorganized sector and therefore, we have given sufficient lead time before the regulations come into force,” FSSAI chief executive Pawan Agarwal said.
Agarwal said the primary objective of packaging is to protect the food contents from microbiological, chemical, physical and atmospheric contamination and preserve the food. Good packaging also ensures there is no change in sensory properties or composition of food when packed.
The new regulation also prescribes overall and specific migration limits for contaminants for plastic packaging materials.
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