Requests FSSAI to exempt health supplements and nutraceuticals from the nutritional labelling requirement
Health Foods And Dietary Supplements Association (HADSA) recently approached the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India with some concerns related to the Draft Food Safety & Standards (Labelling & Display) Regulations, 2021 Ref. F. No.1-94/FSSAI/SP(Labelling)/2014(Pt-2) dated November 17, 2020 and Notice for Operationalisation of Food Safety & Standards (Labelling & Display) Amendment Regulations 2021 dated June 30, 2021.
HADSA has requested an additional timeline aligned to the compliance of the Nutraceutical Regulations (Amendment) 2020. The letter further stated that based on the ongoing amendment discussion critical to the industry like exemption of ‘Nutritional information’ for Health Supplements / Nutraceuticals, it is expected to undergo further changes in the Nutraceutical Regulation (Amendment) 2020, and is also expected to notify in two months from now, with compliance timeline from July 1, 2022.
There are many practical challenges such as consumption of existing packaging material/label inventory, formulation changes, operational up-gradation to enable font size changes and such other challenges which would need additional time to be addressed while implementing the regulatory requirements.
Apart from this, HADSA requested FSSAI to exempt health supplements and nutraceuticals from the nutritional labelling requirement. The main purpose of this exemption request is for tablets/capsules in health supplements or nutraceuticals as these products are mainly dosage based nutrients for certain physiological or health benefits.
HADSA also requested FSSAI on per serve declaration for health supplements and nutraceuticals by removing the requirement to specify on basis of 100gm / 100ml. The reason behind this is as these products are in tablet/capsule/sachet/powder or liquid format and dosage based and there is a clear recommendation for daily consumption, there is no need to specify 100gm / 100ml basis. Currently, such products are marketed/distributed/sold, according to the globally accepted norms provided under the Packaging & Labelling Regulation, 2011 (the same is reflected in the Nutra Regulation, 2016 as well).