The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has limited the industrial trans fatty acids vide and amendment to the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restriction on Sales) Regulations[1].
Thus, the FSSAI has limited the amount of trans fatty acids (TFA) in oils and fats to 3% for 2021 and 2% by 2022 from the current permissible limit of 5%.
Key Pointers
- Limiting industrial TFA (iTFA) to not more than 3% in all fats and oils by January 2021 and not more than 2% by January, 2022
- All food products in which edible oils and fats are used as an ingredient shall not contain industrial trans fatty acids more than 2% by mass of the total oils/fats present in the product, on and from January 01, 2022
- Definition of iTFA– “Industrial trans fatty acids (iTFAs) is – all the geometrical isomers of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids having non-conjugated, interrupted by at least one methylene group, carbon double bonds in the trans configuration. It excludes trans-fatty acids from dairy, meat, fish and their products.”
India has become the second Asian country after Thailand to join the league of nations adopting trans-fat elimination policies. According to the World Health Organization, one of the most common causes of death is heart diseases, which is further aggravated by intake of trans fatty acids. Thus, there is a dire need to increase awareness about Trans Fat Elimination and FSSAI’s move to cap the limit of iTFA in food articles is a welcome move.
Food Laws in India
The food safety laws in India are primarily regulated by the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the
Food Safety and Standards Act (FSS), 2006 is an Act enacted to keep up with the changing needs requirements of time and to consolidate the laws relating to food and to establish the food safety and standards authority of India. Some of the important objects of the act include packaging and labelling of food products, signage and customer notice and licensing registrations.
What is FSSAI?
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety.
The various functions of FSSAI inter alia include framing of regulations to lay down the standards and guidelines in relation to articles of food, specifying appropriate system of enforcing various standards, laying down mechanisms and guidelines for accreditation of certification bodies engaged in certification of food safety management system for food businesses, laying down procedure and guidelines for accreditation of laboratories and notification of the accredited laboratories etc.
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