On October 06, 2020, the Food Safety and Standards issued a letter addressed to all central licensing authorities and all regional directs stating “Exclusion of Food Category "13" (Foodstuffs intended for particular nutritional uses) from the scope of Proprietary Foods”.
The order highlights the main focal points for immediate attention:
- FC 13 broadly covers infant food products and products covered under Food Safety and Standards (Health Supplements, Nutraceuticals, Food for Special Dietary Use, Food for Special Medical Purpose, Functional Food and Novel Food) Regulations, 2016
- Products covered under all the subcategories of the Food Category 13, i.e. Foodstuffs intended for particular nutritional shall either comply with the standards set out in the respective regulations or seek product approval under FSS (Approval for Non-Specified Food and Food Ingredients) Regulations, 2017.
- All such products cannot be licensed as Proprietary Foods in any case.
- The existing database under FLRS was reviewed and it has come to notice that a few licenses under category 13 have been issued as Proprietary Foods.
- To prevent inadvertent errors and considering the sensitivity of the food category 13 and aligned law already in place, it has been decided to presently block “food category 13” from the scope of Proprietary Foods under FoSCOS.
- Central License Authorities are requested to advise Food Business Operators to get their products modified under FoSCOS without any modification fee up to 30th June, 2021.
All the Food Business License holders that fall under Food Category 13 must be in compliance with the new guidelines of FoSCOS with immediate effect from November 06, 2020.
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