Food regulator asks sweet manufacturers to ensure quality

At meeting held for confectioners here on Tuesday, the food regulator has stressed them to use minimal colours in sweets.

Calls for adulterant-free, safe confectioneries for Deepavali

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has advised bakery and sweets manufacturers to prepare and stock adulterant-free and safe confectioneries for this Deepavali.

At meeting held for confectioners here on Tuesday, the food regulator has stressed them to use minimal colours in sweets. Samples of sweets made with minimal colours and those made with high concentration of colourants were displayed at the meeting for better understanding.

K. Tamilselvan, Designated Officer of FSSAI, Coimbatore, said that the focus of the meeting was to educate confectioners on good practices to be followed in the manufacturing of sweets from the selection of raw materials to the packing and the storage.

“Confectioners have been advised to use quality raw materials for the manufacture of sweets. They were instructed to maintain at most hygiene in the place of manufacture, personal hygiene of the employees, and follow various rules of the FSSAI in the making, storage and packing of sweets,” he said.

Colouring agents permitted by the FSSAI should be used for manufacturing sweets that require colour. The permitted colours should not be used beyond the prescribed level, not more than 100mg for 1 kg of sweets or 100 PPM (parts per million) of the item. Vanaspati should not be used instead of ghee for ghee-based sweets. Only packaged cooking oil should be used for making sweets. “The confectioners were asked to avoid banned plastic products for packing sweets. The package should have proper label which include FSSAI licence/registration number, the name and address of the manufacturer, dates of manufacture and expiry, price and ingredients. Milk-based products that have short shelf life should be stored separately while stocking”, he added. Employees at the manufacturing units and shops should wear proper clothing and should have hygiene gears like glove, cap and face mask. Newspaper should not be used for storing or packaging purposes.

The WhatsApp helpline of FSSAI can be reached at 94440-42322 to share food safety related grievances.