These local mithai and sweet shop owners openly display their sweets and claim them to be freshly prepared. The local mithai and sweet shop owners do not display any manufacturing, expiry date or best before date on their unpackaged sweet products and that serving can really affect the negligent customers consuming that sweet.
FSSAI stands for Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and it is a statutory body under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India[1] solely responsible to come up with guidelines for safeguarding the public health by ensuring food safety. Therefore, FSSAI on sweet shop owners has notified that it is mandatory for the sweet shop owners to display “Best before date” on their unpackaged sweet products.
Overview on the Notification Given by FSSAI on Sweet Shop Owners
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on sweet shop owners has come up with a notification dated September 25, 2020 announcing and directing all the sweet shop owners making it compulsory for them to declare the expiry date or ‘best before date’ of all the existing loose and unpackaged sweet products that are available in their shop. This order of FSSAI on sweet shops will come into effect from October 1, 2020.
The FSSAI on sweet shop owners have also notified these food business operators (FBO) to exhibit the manufacturing date of the particular sweet on the unpackaged product. Though, it is not compulsory for the sweet shop owners to do so and it depends on their voluntary will.
Instruction for Sweet Shop Owner
The FSSAI on sweet shop owners has also instructed that:
- The Food business operators shall come to a decision and display the “best before date” that would completely depend upon the local conditions in which the sweet is prepared and the nature of sweet product.
- The Food business operators handling the sweet businesses shall act in accordance with the aforementioned directions of FSSAI on sweet shop owners and the compliance of the same by the FBO’s shall be ensured by the Food Safety Commissioner of all the States and Union Territories.
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Benefits of the Notification Given by FSSAI on Sweet Shop Owners
The FSSAI on sweet shop owners had to make sure that how these unpackaged and loose available sweet products are affecting the health of the consumers. Therefore, FSSAI came up with this notification and hence the benefits of the notification by FSSAI on sweet shop owners are given below:-
Direction for Compliance Given by FSSAI on Sweet Shop Owners
It was important to ensure the quality, value and durability of the food products that is being sold in Indian market. The manufactures are mandated to follow the sound packaging guidelines which enables safe and hygiene storage of food products.
At the same time, it is essential to know the time frame during which the food products are healthy and good for human consumption. Therefore, The Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and labelling) Regulations, 2011 lays down such guidelines where it is important for the food business dealers especially the one dealing with packaging and labelling of the food products to abide by the FSSAI guidelines.
Thus, FSSAI on sweet shop owners has mandated the owners to mandatorily mention “best before date” for all the loose and unpackaged goods so that the person purchasing those sweets is aware about the durability of the product. India being a land of diverse cultures and festivals is a home to varieties of delicacies which includes sweets and desserts.
Our country has a rich heritage and tradition for preparing fresh sweets at local sweet shops and distributing the same on different occasions. Sweets especially those with milk products added in it are more prone to microbial growth. Therefore, it is important for the sweet shops to ensure compliance of the safety norms, sanitation and hygiene while preparing, storing and distributing the sweets within its shelf life period.
Hence, FSSAI on sweet shop owners has this objective of adopting best hygiene and safety practices while preparing sweets especially the unpackaged and loose sweets having limited shelf life and storage conditions. The main aim of FSSAI is to make the sweet shop owners mention the “best before date” for the purpose of consumer protection in respect of the said unpackaged or loose sweet products.
Conclusion
In India, Food Safety demands significant importance owing to the reality that India has forever been a grand host of numerous cuisines because of its love for food and the desire for serving food. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the food business in India is not affected by the vices of adulteration and specifically in sweets the adulteration has been in widespread lately as there were several complaints regarding the same. Moreover, considering the fact of various occasions and festivals in India and also in general seeing at the considerable amount of people interested in purchasing sweets the obedience of the aforesaid order is mandatory. Therefore, FSSAI on sweet shop owners has directed the sweet business operators to strictly ensure with the food safety regulations and guidelines.
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