FSSAI comes out with regulations for vegan foods

New Delhi: Seeking to put in place a strict regulatory framework for vegan foods in the country, FSSAI has made it compulsory for manufacturers of such products to display the logo specified by the authority for easier recognition as well as ensure traceability of the products up to the level of manufacturers.

Besides, sellers of vegan foods should either exclusively or as part of retail merchandise store and display the products in a manner distinguishable from non-vegan foods. The regulator has also mandated that no vegan food products should be imported except with a certificate issued by the recognised authorities of the exporting countries concerned. After coming out with the draft regulations for public comments in September 2021, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued the Food Safety and Standards (Vegan Foods) Regulations, 2022 earlier this month.

In recent years, the number of people opting for vegan foods is on the rise. According to the watchdog, vegan food means the food or food ingredient, including additives, flavourings, enzymes and carriers, or processing aids that are not products of animal origin and in which, at no stage of production and processing, ingredients that are of animal origin have been used.