The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India – FSSAI- has made it compulsory for manufacturers of packaged drinking water and mineral water to take BIS certification for obtaining license or registration from the authority.
FSSAI has given this direction in a letter to Commissioner of Food Safety of all states and Union Territories, which will come into effect from April 1, 2021.
FSSAI said that as per Section 31 of FSS Act 2008, all Food Business Operators (FBOs) have to obtain a license/ registration before the commencement of any food business. Further, Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restriction on Sales) Regulations 2011 state that no person should manufacture sell or exhibit for sale, packaged drinking water, and mineral water except under the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) certification mark, the regulator added.
Yet, FSSAI said it has been reported that several manufacturers of packaged drinking water and mineral water are in operation with FSSAI license but without BIS certification mark.
FSSAI said, it has been decided to make BIS license/application for BIS license a precondition for issuing FSSAI license this is in order, to guarantee compliance with the availability of BIS license by the manufacturers of packaged drinking water and mineral water.
FBOs will have to mandatorily upload a copy of the BIS license or a copy of the letter indicating recording of application for BIS license, at the time of applying for a new license for packaged drinking water and mineral water from the FSSAI on the online portal.
BIS license will be a mandatory document while applying for renewal of FSSAI license.