CHANDIGARH: The city will start checking quality of liquor which need to meet food safety standards as a part of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) initiative from April 1.
“Before there is enforcement, we will be generating awareness and inform the microbrewers about what all is required as standards,” said Sukhwinder Singh, designed officer, FSSAI, Chandigarh.
The standards shall be applicable to distilled alcoholic beverage (brandy, country liquor, gin, rum, vodka and whisky, liqueur), wines and beer. One of the challenging standards includes limiting the amount of yeast in beer, as this is commonly used as fermenting agent in breweries.
The emphasis will be on labelling which must be clear and legible. “The liquors’ labelling should not have any nutritional information, no health claim, restriction on words ‘non-intoxicating’ or words implying similar meaning on label of beverage containing more than 0.5 per cent alcohol by volume,” mentions the notification from the FSSAI.
Also, the alcoholic beverage except wine that contains less that 10% alcohol needs to mention the date, month and year of expiry. The food safety standards must be met where there is labelling of matured liquor.
There labelling of the alcohol needs to mention various contents and their permissible limit. This includes ethyl alcohol, cadmium, copper, lead and mercury in these beverages. The bottle or package must be labelled non-vegetarian if egg white is used as a clarifying agent or any other processing aid of animal origin is used in wine. “Presently, we have yet to receive any formal letter from the centre. Once we are informed, we shall plan various meetings on awareness with the liquor manufacturers and breweries,” said Sukhwinder.
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