The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has permitted the food business operators (FBO) of Telangana to use their existing packaging material with the old licence numbers until December 31, 2015, subject to a minimum of 180 days. These steps have been taken to avoid the huge economic losses the FBO incur.
Earlier, the country’s apex food regulator issued a notification informing food safety officers (FSO) across the state to issue new licences to them. FBO were earlier allowed to use their packaging material with the previous licence numbers until January 1, 2015, but FSSAI has now extended it to the end of the year. The date was extended due to the strong objection by FBOs’ representatives.
The notification, signed by FSSAI advisor Sanjay Dave, has been uploaded onto the regulator’s website. It read, “FSSAI received a representation from FBO, stating that they have not been able to utilise the existing inventory of labels, and in case they have to be discarded, it would amount to huge losses to our business.”
B T Gorti, owner of Saradiro Services, a food consultancy provider in Telangana, said, “FBO would face huge economic losses if the food regulator asked us to discard all packaging materials with the previous licence numbers.”
“A huge amount of money has been invested on packaging to ensure the proper expression of food products and marketing. If the regulator urges them to discard it merely because of the name of the state has changed, they would not only face losses, but also distrust,” he added.
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