Packaging and Labeling Standards

As an organization working to help the consumer packaged foods industry to meet the FSSAI standards, ManageArtworks has collated the following information from FSSAI sources and presented the information in a way that will benefit all manufacturers in the food and beverage industry in India

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has been established under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 which consolidates various acts & orders that have hitherto handled food related issues in various Ministries and Departments. FSSAI has been created for laying down science based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s proposed Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulation, 2011 has prescribed the following definitions.

SL NO	DESCRIPTION	DEFINITION
1	Best Before	Period where the food shall remain marketable and retain specific qualities to claims made AND beyond date, food may be safe to consume though its quality may have diminished.
2	Date of Manufacture	The date on which the food becomes the Product as described.
3	Date of Packaging	Date on which food is placed in the immediate container and ultimately sold.
4	Infant	Age – not more than 12 months
5	Lot / Code / Batch Nos	Numeric or Alphabets or Both. Basis to trace the Food during manufacturing or distribution.
6	Multi-piece Package	Package having 2 or more individual packages or labelled pieces of the same commodity.
7	Non Vegetarian Food	Food Article – Containing – whole or part of any animal including birds, fresh water or marine animals, eggs, products of animal origin excluding Milk or Milk Products.
8	Pre-Packaged or Pre-packed Food	Food placed in a package and is ready for sale. Further, food contents cannot be changed without tampering of package.
9	Principal Display Panel	That part of the container or package intended for display or a presentation to customer viewing
10	Use-by Date / Expiry Date / Recommended last consumption Date	Date Signifies – end of estimated period where food cease to have the Quality and Safety attributes as expected by consumer. Food shall not be Sold
11	Vegetarian Food	Any article of food other than Non-Vegetarian Food as defined in regulation – 1.2.1(7).
12	Whole Sale Package	(a) A number of retail packs, intended for sale, distribution, delivery to an intermediary and not for sale direct to a single consumer.
		(b) A commodity of food sold to an intermediary in bulk – enabling to sell, distribute, delivery to the consumer in smaller quantities.