FSSAI introduces quarterly reporting for expired and rejected products

This directive aims to prevent the resale of expired or rejected food products for human consumption, promoting stricter food safety practices

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has introduced a new mandate requiring licensed food manufacturers, importers, repackers, and relabellers to submit quarterly data on expired and rejected food items through its online compliance platform, FOSCOS. According to the announcement this directive aims to prevent the resale of expired or rejected food products for human consumption, promoting stricter food safety practices.

Key aspects of the mandate include:

Reporting Quality Failures: Documenting quantities of products that fail internal quality checks or inspections.

Tracking Expired or Returned Items: Recording volumes of expired products or those returned from the supply chain.

Disposal Records: Providing detailed accounts of disposal methods, including destruction, auction, or alternative uses, along with buyer and waste disposal agency information.

The initiative seeks to enable real-time tracking of rejected or expired food products, ensuring they are disposed of safely and not repurposed for human consumption. It also prevents such items from being illicitly rebranded as cattle feed or resold.

While the FOSCOS reporting system is still under development, food businesses are required to start collecting data immediately to facilitate seamless compliance once the system becomes fully functional.

In a related move, FSSAI reclassified packaged drinking and mineral water as high-risk food categories in November. This reclassification enforces stricter regulations, including annual inspections, mandatory third-party audits, and compliance with higher quality standards.