FSSAI says restaurants can use menu cards, boards to display nutritional information

The Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSAI) has clarified that restaurants have the flexibility to use various options such as menu cards or boards to display calorific value and other nutritional information of the freshly prepared food and beverage items served by them to consumers.

• Also read: FSSAI gives time till August 31 to importers for registration of international food facilities

It also advised States to avoid “unnecessary action” on food services establishment that are in compliance with these norms.

This clarification comes after the food safety regulator received representations from restaurant industry stakeholders regarding “misinterpretations” of these norms by some State licensing authorities resulting in actions including suspension of licenses in certain cases.

Per FSSAI’s regulations, restaurant players and food services establishments that have central license or outlets at ten or more locations need to mandatory follow menu labelling norms..

In its advisory dated April 12, the FSSAI said the regulations permit food services establishments to display information such as calorific value of food items, food allergens, logo of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food using “various options.”

It clarified that restaurants can use menu cards or boards in restaurant premises as well as booklets to display calorific value of the freshly prepared food items. It also added that restaurants can use booklets, handouts or their websites to display other nutritional information that may be prescribed by the regulations.

It also stressed that e-commerce food aggregators need to get the requisite nutritional information from the restaurants and display it on their platforms, it added. 

Thus food service establishments “have the discretion or flexibility” to select any of these methods for providing this information, it pointed out. “The licensing authorities are hereby advised to adhere to these provisions diligently and avoid unnecessary actions including issuance of notices, suspension of license, etc in case the FBOs are compliant” with the requisite provisions of the regulations, the FSSAI advisory added. 

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