Food labelling norms put importers, retailers in a fix

Almost a year after the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) became stringent about labelling norms, food importers and gourmet retailers are facing mounting losses due to consignments being held up at different entry points.

Industry sources say that almost 400-500 odd containers of shipment are lying at different ports and even at airports for their failure to meet FSSAI’s compliance norms.

FSSAI, the nodal agency, had last year started tightening norms and stepped up inspection following complaints regarding quality of imported food products on retail shelves.

Last week several MNC players had also met FSSAI officials to settle the issue regarding labelling norms.

Prakash Sanghvi of importer Delta Nutritive points that the problem persists despite several petitions to the Government. “There seems to be a political stalemate over the issue. The guidelines set by the Government are affecting business and we believe over 400-500 containers are stuck at various entry points. The whole process of checking takes about three to four months and during this period, importers have to pay ports to retain their shipment,” he added.

According to the food regulator's norms, manufacturers of packaged food items must, among other things, list the contents in English on the labelling, which must mention the ingredients used and their nutritional values. The producer’s name, address and country of origin must also be mentioned, and in the format prescribed by FSSAI.

Sanghvi points that FSSAI guidelines were putting retailers and intermediaries (those who do institutional supplies) in the same basket, thereby creating problems.

FSSAI also insists that importers should not use stickers indicating details such as product type, price and nutritional value, and the manufacturing/producing company must print the product details on the packs that are to be shipped to India.

Firoz H Naqvi, Secretary, Food Ingredients Manufacturers & Suppliers of India Association, a body of 50 importers who make institutional supplies, pointed that they had made a representation to both the health and food processing ministries to tide over the issue which has been causing delay and short supply of product delivery.

“We believe business worth ₹15,000-₹20,000 crore is being hit due to FSSAI’s norms. We are also asking the Government to keep Codex (an internationally accepted labelling norm) as a benchmark before tweaking rules,” Naqvi said. A source at the Bombay Custom Agents also pointed that the lack of adequate storage facility was creating an issue with perishable products as they are soon rendered unfit for consumption.

Mohit Khattar, MD, Godrej Natures Basket, also pointed out that gourmet food import was suffering. “The availability of imported goods is suffering. We have also made representation to the Government,” he said, adding that confectionery, condiments and meat products were hit the most.

Sources in the Food Processing Ministry, however, said that steps were taken last year after the E. coli bacteria scare. Besides, content information is often in Chinese or Arabic and consignments from such destinations were re-exported to India.

FSSAI, which is under the Ministry of Health, is authorised to send samples of imported articles for analysis to central food laboratories in Kolkata, Ghaziabad, Pune and Mysore.

COMMENT NOW