STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS IN DAIRY INDUSTRY IN INDIA

INTRODUCTION To meet a countrys sanitary and phytosanitary requirements, food must comply with the local laws and regulations to gain market access. These laws ensure the safety and suitability of food for consumers, in some countries; also govern food quality and composition standards. The requirement of food regulation may be based on several factors such as whether a country adopts international norms developed by the Codex Alimentarius Commission of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization; good agricultural and manufacturing practices; or a country may also has its own suite of food regulations. Each country regulates food differently and has its own food regulatory framework. Usually more than one agency is involved in food regulations e.g. health and agriculture, they may have centralized or regionally controlled food regulations, and different agencies may be involved in enforcement activities. All these legislations are now come under the Food Safety and Standards Act of India (FSSAI), 2006. Food Safety and Standards Act The Indian Parliament has recently passed the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 that overrides all other food related laws. It will specifically repeal eight laws: The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 The Fruit Products Order, 1955 The Meat Food Products Order, 1973 The Vegetable Oil Products (Control) Order, 1947 The Edible Oils Packaging (Regulation) Order, 1998 The Solvent Extracted Oil, De oiled Meal, and Edible Flour (Control) Order, 1967 The Milk and Milk Products Order, 1992 Essential Commodities Act, 1955 relating to food

The Act establishes a new national regulatory body, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, to develop science based standards for food and to regulate and monitor the manufacture, processing, storage, distribution, sale and import of food so as to ensure the availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption. All food imports will therefore be subject to the provisions of the Act and any rules and regulations made under the Act. As a temporary measure, the standards, safety requirements and other provisions of the repealed Acts and Orders and any rules and regulations made under them will continue to be in force until new rules and regulations are put in place under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. FSSAI has been mandated by the FSS Act, 2006 for performing the following functions: Framing of Regulations to lay down the Standards and guidelines in relation to articles of food and specifying appropriate system of enforcing various standards thus notified. 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. To provide scientific advice and technical support to Central Government and State Governments in the matters of framing the policy and rules in areas which have a direct or indirect bearing of food safety and nutrition . Collect and collate data regarding food consumption, incidence and prevalence of biological risk, contaminants in food, residues of various, contaminants in foods products, identification of emerging risks and introduction of rapid alert system.

Creating an information network across the country so that the public, consumers, Panchayats etc receive rapid, reliable and objective information about food safety and issues of concern. Provide training programmes for persons who are involved or intend to get involved in food businesses. Contribute to the development of international technical standards for food, sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards. Promote general standards. awareness about food safety and food

Prevention of Food Adulteration Act A basic statute (Prevention of Food Adulteration Act (PFA) of 1954 and the PFA Rules of 1955, as amended) protects India against impure, unsafe, and fraudulently labelled foods. The PFA standards and regulations apply equally to domestic and imported products and cover various aspects of food processing and distribution. These include food colour, preservatives, pesticide residues, packaging and labelling, and regulation of sales. All imported products must adhere to the rules specified in the Act and its regulations, including those covering labelling and marketing requirements. The PFA focuses primarily on the establishment of regulatory standards for primary food products, which constitute the bulk of the Indian diet. This Act is the basic statute that is intended to protect the common consumer against the supply of adulterated food. This specifies different standards for various food articles. The standards are in terms of minimum quality levels intended for ensuring safety in the consumption of these food items and for safeguarding against harmful impurities and adulteration. The Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare elaborates food standards under the PFA Act and Rules with the help of a Central Committee for Food Standards (CCFS) and its various subcommittees. The Act and Rules are enforced by the Local Health Authorities and Custom Authorities with the help of Central Food Laboratories

and State Food Laboratories. The local food authorities monitor the quality of foods, especially with reference to adulteration and composition. The provisions of the Act are mandatory and contravention of the rules can lead to both fines and imprisonment. The Food Safety and Standards Act has recently come into effect in part replacing the PFA Act. Under the Food Act the Food Safety and Standards Authority has been set up to administer the Food Act. Presently it is the transition phase of transferring the functions, responsibilities and authorities from the Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to the Food Authority. Milk and Milk Products Order The Milk and Milk Product Order (MMPO), 1992, issued on June 9, 1992 seeks to ensure the supply of liquid milk, an essential commodity, to consumers by regulating its processing and distribution Salient Features of the MMPO Order include the following: Registrations for units handling up to 75,000 litres of milk per day are granted by the State Governments and units with more than 75,000 litres per day capacity are registered by the Central Registering Authority. The Certificate also specifies the milkshed area, which, under the order is defined as a geographical area demarcated by the Registering Authority for the collection of milk by the registered unit. Maintenance of specified hygienic conditions in the premises where milk and milk products are handled, processed, manufactured or stored. -The collection, transportation and processing of milk normally centres around the operations of a processing plant. The region from which the marketable surplus of milk production finds its way to a processing plant is called a milkshed. The concept of milkshed areas is pivotal to the MMPO. The Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries at the Ministry of Agriculture is the regulatory authority.

The MMPO is now to be administered by the FSSAI as Milk and Milk Products Regulation. When the MMPO is reviewed by the FSSAI, it is necessary that the present MMPO is not repealed but is modified: the hygiene requirements mentioned in the Order should be further strengthened suitably and not diluted. Livestock Importation Act India has established procedures for the importation of livestock and associated products under the Livestock Importation Act, 1898. Under the regulations, the import of meat products, eggs and egg powder and milk products require a sanitary import permit from the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries at the Ministry of Agriculture. A detailed import risk analysis is carried out, taking into account the disease situation prevailing in the exporting country compared with the disease situation in India. Export (Quality Control and Inspection) Act, 1963: The Export Inspection Council is responsible for the operation of this Act. Under the Act, a large number of exportable commodities have been notified for compulsory pre-shipment inspection. The quality control and inspection of various export products is administered through a network of more than fifty offices located around major production centres and ports of shipment. In addition, organizations may be recognized as agencies for inspection and /or quality control. Recently, the government has exempted agriculture and food products, fruit products and fish and fishery products from compulsory pre-shipment inspections; provided that the exporter has a firm letter from the overseas buyer stating that the overseas buyer does not require preshipment inspection from official Indian inspection agencies.
Standards on Weights and Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 1977

These Rules lay down certain obligatory conditions for all commodities that are packed form, with respect to declarations on quantities contained. These Rules are operated by the

Directorate of Weights and Measures, under the Ministry of Food and Civil Supplies. a) Voluntary Standards There are two organizations that deal with voluntary standardization and certification systems in the food sector. The Bureau of Indian Standards looks after standardization of processed foods and standardization of raw agricultural produce is under the purview of the Directorate of Marketing and Inspection. b) Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) The activities of BIS are two fold, the formulation of Indian standards in the processed foods sector and the implementation of standards through promotion and through voluntary and third party certification systems. BIS has on record, standards for most of processed foods. In general, these standards cover raw materials permitted and their quality parameters, hygienic conditions under which products are manufactured and packaging and labeling requirements. Manufacturers complying with standards laid down by the BIS can obtain and ISI mark that can be exhibited on product packages. BIS has identified certain items like food colours/additives, vanaspati, containers for packing, milk powder and condensed milk, for compulsory certification. c) Directorate of Marketing and Inspection (DMI) The DMI enforces the Agricultural Products (Grading and Marketing) Act, 1937. Under this Act, Grade Standards are prescribed for agricultural and allied commodities. These are known as Agmark Standards. Grading under the provisions of this Act is voluntary. Manufacturers who comply with standard the laid down by DMI are allowed to use Agmark labels on their products.