Food safety watchdog Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has released a list of 12,000 standards for food additives and ingredients to eliminate the lengthy procedure of product approval.
The FSSAI currently has around 375 standards for the safety of food items in place. However, none of these standards cater to ingredients and additives.
Food companies are expected to benefit from the move as meeting these standards would eliminate the need for them to seek product approvals from FSSAI.
The new standards would meet the safety guidelines that have been set up by global food standards of Codex Alimentarius Commission that was set up by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation and World Health Organisation.
The Press Trust of India quoted a senior health ministry official as saying: "FSSAI has approved 12,000 standards for food additives and ingredients. The law ministry is vetting the standards and a notification will be issued soon."
The move comes in the wake of the Maggi noodles controversy, where the popular product manufactured by Nestle was found to contain seven times the permissible limit of lead.
Following the incident, the authority has tightened its food safety measures. It recently introduced a draft regulation that proposed the permissible limit of lead for a range of food products.
Food items such as mineral water, salt, jam, fish and meat would have to follow mandatory compliance of maximum limits of heavy metals, including tin, arsenic and cadmium.
It is being speculated that alcoholic drinks such as whiskey, vodka, gin, beer and also brands of alcopop might come under the proposed regulation.
