Gourmet food imports down on strict labelling norms

That tin of New Zealand cheese or bottle of Thai stir fry-sauce that you like may get costlier. Not just because of the falling rupee, but also as supplies are drying up.

Tougher food labelling requirements imposed by the Government, including a requirement to disclose source of origin of food items, have hit the gourmet and speciality food imports, importers and retailers say.

According to them, after recent tightening of norms and stepped up inspections, several containers of imported food have been returned for failure to meet the sourcing standards laid down by the nodal agency, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

Sources in Government indicated that the norms have been tightened following milk contamination in China, radioactive contamination scare coming from Japan and the eColi bacteria scare in Europe. Additionally, they say that labelling has been made stringent as content information is often in Chinese or Arabic, as consignments from such destinations are re-exported to India.

FSSAI is understood to be stringently implementing the norms on labelling since the past two months. The guidelines for labelling, among other things, include clearly stating the origin of the product and even the source. It is also strictly implementing parameters such as the original printing on the product pack meeting Indian requirements, and not just a stickered version, as has been the prevalent practice so far.

“Norm change by the FSSAI is impacting imports of certain products. We understand that several importers are working with manufacturers to comply with the labelling norms, but in products such as cheese, companies are finding it difficult to comply with the norms. This has an impact on products coming into the country,” Mohit Khattar, MD, Godrej Nature’s Basket, said.

Several small and medium importers Business Line spoke to said that the food safety body has been sampling products at various ports and those which did not meet its requirements were re-exported or sent back to the consignor.

Rajneesh Bhasin, MD, Borges India, “Imports are getting impacted due to failure to meet FSSAI guidelines. On our part, we are working with our vendors to comply with requirements such as printing on the bottles as FSSAI guidelines prohibit stickering.”

Amit Lohani, CEO, Max Food, agrees. “Currently, import of gourmet products is down by nearly 40 per cent due to labelling norms. We have been importing products since last 15 years but stringent norms are making it difficult to do business. We believe 1,100 containers are lying abandoned or ready to be shipped back as they are unable to comply with the FSSAI guidelines.”

Importers also complained that the FSSAI has been undertaking sampling at various points and this was also impacting profits.

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.

Among key guidelines in the proposed draft regulations, products should carry only the ‘best before date’ and not the date of manufacture, although the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations of 2011 requires complete information on the label. It also seeks information regarding nutritional and health claims

“The intension of this Act is that every consumer gets proper information regarding the food which has been contained in the packet through the declaration of the label on the container,” FSSAI said.

>bindu.menon@thehindu.co.in

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