Draft Food Safety and Standards (Food or Health Supplement, Nutraceuticals, Food for Special Dietary uses, Food for Special Medical Purposes, Functional Foods and Novel Foods) Regulation, 2015
The FSSAI has recently issued a draft of Food Safety and Standards (Food or Health Supplements, Nutraceuticals, Foods for Special Dietary uses, Foods for Special Medical Purposes, Functional Foods, and Novel Foods) Regulations, 2015 (Draft Regulations). These Draft Regulations have defined and classified Nutraceuticals, Foods for Special Dietary Use, Foods for Special Medical Purposes, Foods containing Probiotic Ingredients, Foods containing prebiotic ingredients, Specialty Foods containing ingredients based on Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha and Traditional Health Systems of India and Novel Foods on the basis of essential composition, labeling, usage of additives, contaminants and toxins, besides claims on health and nutritional values. The Draft Regulations further mandate manufacturers to label such foods as "food or health supplement" and to prominently display on such labels, the phrase "not for medicinal use", and specify the quantity one must intake and that the product does not intend to cure any disease etc.