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Food Safety and Standards Authority of India is planning to remove the quantity of added sugar from the additives section on non-alcoholic carbonated beverage labels. The apex body has put forth this proposal in order to curb duplication.
As per the regulations laid down by the country’s apex food regulator, it is binding upon manufacturers of non-alcoholic beverages to mention the quantity of added sugar at two places on their products’ labels – under food additives and the Packaging and Labelling Regulations.
The notification stated, “It has been proposed that the provision to declare the quantity of added sugar be omitted from the sub-regulations of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011 , to avoid duplicity of the declaration requirement.”
Nilesh Lele, secretary, Association of Food Scientists and Technologists India [AFST(I)], said, “Manufacturers of non-alcoholic beverages had to declare the quantity of added sugar on the bottle or pack.”
“This requirement was mentioned at two places in the Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011. This amendment will eliminate the wordings from the additives section and will retain them in the labelling section. There was no confusion in the past, and through this change, there will be no impact in the future,” he added.
Therefore, as per the draft note, omitting the labelling requirement will help to address the issue of duplicity or overlapping of provisions in respect of declaration of the quantity of added sugar under the sub-regulations of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, and the sub-regulations of the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations, 2011.