FSSAI has issued a gazette notification amending the Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011. The amendments are related to the revision of cane jaggery (cane gur) and sodium saccharin (food grade) and new standards for calcium saccharin (food grade). These regulations are called the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Fifth Amendment Regulations, 2018.
According to the notification, in the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, in the regulation Sweetening agents including honey under the category gur or jaggery, the words pressed out of sugarcane from its definition shall be omitted, and the new standards for cane jaggery or cane gur have been added.
The draft stated, “Cane jaggery, or cane gur, means the product obtained by boiling or processing juice pressed out of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum). Additives permitted under these regulations shall be used, whereas added colour shall not be permitted. Sodium bicarbonate, if used for clarification purpose, shall be of food-grade quality.â€
Sodium saccharin (food grade)
The standards has been revised with this amendment. It has been defined as white crystals or white crystalline powder which will be odourless or have a faint odour. It is intensely sweet to taste, even in dilute solution. One gram is soluble in 1.5ml of water and in about 50ml of alcohol.
Calcium saccharin (food grade)
Further, a new sub-regulation, namely Calcium Saccharin (Food Grade), has been added to this category. Calcium saccharin is white crystals or white crystalline powder. It shall be odourless or have a faint odour and an intensely sweet taste even in dilute solution. One gram is soluble in 1.5ml of water. When tested in accordance with the method specified in Indian Standard (IS) 5345, it shall conform to the following standards:
|
SerialNumber |
Characteristics |
Permissible Limit |
|
1 |
Purity as C14H8CaN2O6S2, on the dry basis, percent by mass, Minimum |
99 |
|
2 |
Moisture, percent by mass, Maximum |
15 |
|
3 |
Benzoate and salicylate |
To pass the test |
|
4 |
Readily carbonisable substances |
To pass the test |
|
5 |
Toluene sulfonamides, parts per million (ppm), Maximum |
25 |
Meanwhile, the country’s apex food regulator has issued a notice inviting suggestions and comment from the World Trade Organization (WTO) sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) committee member with regards to revised standards for TDS [limits of calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) content] in packaged drinking water as well as new standards for decaffeinated roasted and ground coffee and decaffeinated soluble coffee powder.
Revising the TDS (limits of Ca and Mg content) packaged drinking water (other than mineral water) in the table for general parameters concerning substances undesirable in excessive amounts, the limits for the calcium and magnesium have been added as 20-75mg/l and 10-30mg/l, respectively.
Further, under the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, in Regulation 2.10 [Beverages (other than dairy and fruit- and vegetable-based)], in the category coffee, standards for decaffeinated roasted and ground coffee and decaffeinated soluble coffee powder have been added.
Decaffeinated roasted and ground coffee
Decaffeinated coffee means the dried seeds of Coffea arabica, Coffea liberica, Coffea excelsa or Coffea canephora (Robusta) or with their husks (mesocarp and endocarp) removed and decaffeinated to remove nearly all the caffeine from the beans. Decaffeination is carried out while the beans are in green form, before they are roasted.
(a) Roasted decaffeinated coffee means properly cleaned green coffee which has been decaffeinated, roasted to a brown colour and has developed its characteristic aroma.
(b) Ground decaffeinated coffee means the powdered products obtained from roasted decaffeinated coffee only and shall be free from husk.
The draft stated that the products should be free from artificial colouring and flavouring and shall be in dry and fresh condition and free from rancidity.
Decaffeinated soluble coffee powder
It is defined as coffee powder obtained from freshly roasted and ground pure coffee beans from which most of the caffeine has been removed. The product shall be in the form of a free-flowing powder or shall be in the agglomerated form (granules) having colour, taste and flavour characteristic of coffee and free from impurities and should not contain chicory or any other added substances.
