Decision was taken by officials with representatives who found it difficult to seek licenses for such products
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has cleared the definition of mouth freshener under the food category. They have mentioned mouth freshener such as vegetables, dried fruits, spice-based mouth freshener and nut-based mouth fresher and few other traditional mouth fresheners can be obtained under this category.
Further, it has been stated that categories will be clearly mentioned on FoSCoS (Food Safety Compliance System) under the General Manufacturing category only after considering eligibility criteria under the licensing regulation.
Since mouth fresheners are refreshment products, there are certain parameters with regards to ingredients that one needs to check before adding their products to the category. Further, the existing license holder can continue functioning without any alteration to the new category.
Speaking about the modification, an International food safety speaker and National Resource Person for FSSAI, Ashwin Bhadri stated, “Though FSSAI took an initiative to categorize and license the mouth freshener, three consecutive months is allocated to the business operators to modify their respective licenses. The orders have been issued and stated as interim measures. To seek licensing or register the product, specific category and sub-category are to be considered under the 5.2 Confectionary with a specific classification.”