3. DEFINITION OF ‘FOOD’ AS PER FSS ACT
“Food "means any substance, whether processed,
partially processed or unprocessed, which is intended for
human consumption and includes primary food,
Genetically modified or engineered food or food
containing such ingredients, infant food, packaged
drinking water, alcoholic drink, chewing gum, and any
substance, including water used into the food during its
manufacture, preparation or treatment but does not
include any animal feed, live animals unless they are
prepared or processed for placing on the market for
human consumption, plants , prior to harvesting, drugs
and medicinal products , cosmetics, narcotic or
psychotropic substances.

4. FOOD SAFETY - Why needed ?
 Food safety means an assurance that the food is
acceptable for human consumption according to its
intended use.
 “Standard”, in relation to any article of food, means
the standards notified by the Food Authority.

5.  It is of vital importance to all consumers & food
business operators- engaged in production,
processing, distribution & sale.
 It provides confidence to consumers that the food
they buy and eat will do no harm to them and that
they are protected from adulteration/fraud.

6. The Food Safety and Standards
Authority of India (FSSAI)
 It has been established under Food Safety and
Standards Act, 2006 which consolidates various
acts & orders that have hitherto handled food
related issues in various Ministries and
Departments.
 FSSAI has been created for laying down science
based standards for articles of food and to regulate
their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and
import to ensure availability of safe and
wholesome food for human consumption.

7. DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS OF FSSAI
• Framing of Rules, Regulations, Standards and
Guidelines in relation to articles of food.
• Procedure and the enforcement of quality control
on any artcle of imported into India.
• Guidelines for accreditation of certification bodies
engaged in certification of Food Safety Management
System for food businesses.

8. • Providing Scientific advice and technical support to
the Central Government and State Governments in
matters of framing the policy and rules in areas
which have a direct or indirect bearing of food
safety and nutrition.
• Capacity Building through training programmes for
various stakeholders in food safety and standards.
• Contribute to the development of International
Technical Standards for food , Sanitary and Phyto-
sanitary Standards.
• Guidelines for accreditation of Laboratories and
their notification.

9. • Collect and collate data regarding food
consumption, incidence and prevalence of
biological risk, contaminants in food, residues of
various contaminants , identification of emerging
risks and introduction of rapid alert system
Creating Information Dissemination Network
across the country about food safety & issues of
concern.
• Promote general awareness about Food Safety and
Food Standards.

10. FOOD SAFETY & STANDARDS ACT,2006
 The Food Safety & Standards Act was enacted by
Government of India on 24th August, 2006
 For implementation/ enforcement , the Food
Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) was
constituted on 5.09.2008.

11.  Mandate :
Laying down science based standards for articles of
food and to regulate their manufacture, storage,
distribution, sale and import, to ensure availability of
safe and wholesome food for human consumption
and for matters connected therewith or incidental
thereto.

12. A SINGLE REFERENCE POINT
With the enactment of FSSA-2006 , the Govt. of India
has created Food Safety & Standards Authority of
India (FSSAI) as a single reference point for all matters
relating to food safety & standards.

13. SALIENT FEATURES OF THE ACT
• Emphasis on gradual shift from regulatory regime
to self compliance through food safety
management system.
• No License for Petty/small food business operators
- Only registration is mandatory.
• Regulation of food imported in the country.
• Covering Health Foods, food supplements,
nutraceuticals.
• Graded penalty depending upon the gravity of
offences for selling substandard food, misbranded
food including misleading advertisement.

15. Highlights of the Food Safety and
Standard Act, 2006
• Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954
• Fruit Products Order , 1955
• Meat Food Products Order , 1973
• Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order, 1947
• Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation)Order 1988
• Solvent Extracted Oil, De- Oiled Meal and
Edible Flour (Control) Order, 1967
• Milk and Milk Products Order, 1992

16. Prevention of Food Adulteration Act,1954
o The Act was promulgated by Parliament in 1954 to
make provision for the prevention of adulteration of
food, along with the Prevention of Food
Adulteration Rules, 1955 which was incorporated in
1955 as an extension to the Act.
o Broadly, the PFA Act covers food standards, general
procedures for sampling, analysis of food, powers of
authorized officers, nature of penalties and other
parameters related to food.

17. o It deals with parameters relating to food additives,
preservative, colouring matters, packing & labelling
of foods, prohibition & regulations of sales etc. Like
FPO, amendment in PFA rules are incorporated
with the recommendation made by the Central
Committee of Food Standards (CCFS) which has
been setup by Central Government under the
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare comprising
members from different regions of the country.
o The provisions of PFA Act and Rules are
implemented by State Government and local
bodies as provided in the rules.

18. Fruit Products Order (FPO), 1955
Fruit Products Order -1955, promulgated under the
Essential Commodities Act - 1955, with an objective
to manufacture fruit & vegetable products
maintaining sanitary and hygienic conditions in the
premises and quality standards laid down in the
Order. It is mandatory for all manufacturers of fruit
and vegetable products including some non fruit
products like non fruit vinegar, syrup and sweetened
aerated water to obtain a license under this Order.

19. Following minimum requirements are laid down in
the Fruit Product Order for hygienic production and
quality standards:
(i) Location and surroundings of the factory
(ii) Sanitary and hygienic conditions of premises
(iii) Personnel hygiene
(iv) Portability of water
(v) Machinery & Equipment with installed capacity
(vi) Quality control facility & Technical staff
(viii) Product Standards
(viii) Limits for preservatives & other additives

20. Meat Food Products Order (MFPO) DIVISION
• Consumption of meat & meat products and
consumers preference to these products is
gradually increasing. In Meat & Meat Processing
sector, poultry meat is the fastest growing animal
protein in India. Per capita consumption of meat
products has grown from 870 grams in 2000 to
about 1.68 kg in 2005.This is expected to grow to
2Kg in 2009.

21. • Indian consumers prefer to buy fresh meat from
the wet market, rather than processed or frozen
meats. A mere 6% of production of poultry meat is
sold in processed form. Of this only about 1%
undergoes processing into value added products
(Ready-to-eat/ Ready-to-cook). Processing of large
animals is largely for the purpose of Exports.
• Meat & Meat Products are highly perishable in
nature and can transmit diseases from animals to
human-beings. Processing of meat products is
licensed under Meat Food Products Order,(MFPO)
1973.

22. Vegetable Oil Product Order, 1980
The Vegetable Oil Products industry is regulated by
this Order through the Directorate of Vanaspati,
Vegetable Oils & Fats, Department of Food, Public
Distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, and Food
& Public Distribution. The earlier two Orders –
Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order, 1947 and
Vegetable Oil Products (Standards of Quality) Order,
1975 have been replaced by a single Order called
“Vegetable Oil Products (Regulation) Order, 1998 for
proper regulation of manufacture, distribution and
sale of Vegetable Oil Products.

23. Edible Oils Packaging, 1998
In order to ensure availability of safe and quality
edible oils in packed form at pre-determined prices to
the consumers, the Central Govt. promulgated on
17th September, 1998, an Edible Oils Packaging
(Regulation) Order, 1998 under the Essential
Commodities Act, 1955 to make packaging of edible
oils, sold in retail, compulsory unless specifically
exempted by the concerned State Govt.

24. Solvent Extracted Oil, De-oiled Meal and
Edible Flour (Control) Order, 1967
The Order is basically a quality control order to ensure
that the solvent extracted oils in particular are not
reached to the consumers for consumption before the
same are refined and conformed to the quality
standards specified in the Order for the purpose.
Standards for the solvent (hexane), which is to be
used for extraction of oil from the oil-bearing
materials, have also been specified so as to eliminate
possible contamination of oil from the solvent used.

25. Milk and Milk Product Amendment
Regulations, 2009
• Under Industrial Development & Regulation Act, the
Department of Dairying & Fisheries had
promulgated the Milk and Milk Product Order
(MMPO).
• The objective of the order is to maintain and
increase the supply of liquid milk of desired quality
in the interest of the general public and also for
regulating the production, processing and
distribution of milk and milk products.

26. INDIAN FOOD CODE SYSTEM

27. NEED FOR A FOOD CATEGORISATION SYSTEM
 Provides a clarity to all stakeholders including
enforcement agencies.
 Provides predictability, certainty and direction
through cataloguing the various food products in
categories in a hierarchical manner.
 Enables easy Navigation by providing information
in a clustered and clutter free manner.
 Provides a direction & space for future regulatory
developments.

28. PRINCIPLE 1: EXPANDABILITY
The FCS shall be so designed and constructed
that, each category number can be used as a
code, if required for the purpose of licensing.
The code shall be expandable to cover
reasonable possibilities of new additions of
products or categories in future

29. Principle 2: Scientific Basis, Simplicity,
Clarity And Certainty
FCS should be simple to understand, based
on sound scientific principles and should
be able to provide clarity to both the
regulator as well as other stakeholders.

30. Principle 3: System Usable For Both
National And International Regulatory
Framework Purposes
FCS shall be so designed that it is in conformity
with recent developments in the areas of food
classification and categorization for the purpose
of food regulations. This should serve the dual
purposes both at the national and international
levels.

31. Hierarchical Orderly Decision Tree
Based Approach
It will be based on 4 level structure i.e.
a) Level 1: Main Category
b) Level 2: Sub Categories forming part of the main
category
c) Level 3: Sub-sub Categories, forming part of a sub
category
d) Level 4: Sub-sub categories or products, forming
part of a sub-sub category.

32. Example
4.0 Fruits and vegetables & their products
04.1 Fruit
04.1.1 Fresh fruit
04.1.1.1 Untreated fresh fruit
04.1.1.2 Surface-treated fresh fruit
04.1.1.3 Peeled or cut fresh fruit
04.1.2 Processed fruit
04.1.2.1 Frozen fruit
04.1.2.2 Dried fruit
04.1.2.3 Fruit in vinegar, oil, or brine
04.1.2.4 Canned or bottled (pasteurized) fruit
04.1.2.5 Jams, jellies, marmalades
04.1.2.6 Fruit-based spreads (e.g., chutney)