The country’s food authority has suggested standards for labelling ‘pan masala,’ with the goal of covering the front half of the pack with a warning notice. The bread terminology is also specified in the standards.
The rule requires Pan Masala makers to disclose on the front of the packaging, “CHEWING OF PAN MASALA IS INJURIOUS TO HEALTH,” and that “the warning statement must span 50 percent of the front of the pack of the label.”
In this respect, the FSSAI has released a guideline.
The Food Safety and Standards (Labelling and Display) Amendment Regulations, 2021, additionally specify the eligibility of various breads for label nomenclature.
According to the proposed standards, the minimum amount of speciality ingredient, i.e., whole wheat atta, as a percentage should be 75per cent for the term “whole wheat bread.” Similarly, for the appellation ‘wheat bread’ or ‘brown bread,’ the whole grain flour should account for at least 50per cent of the dry mass.
To be labelled as multigrain bread, the speciality ingredients must be food grains authorised by the FSS (Food Product Standards & Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, and a minimum of 20per cent must be grains other than wheat.
The laws also specify the minimum amount of speciality ingredients as a percentage of flour for specialty bread, with the specialty ingredient listed on the label as a prefix to the term “bread.”
According to the proposed FSSAI regulation, ‘milk bread’ must contain a minimum of 6per cent milk solids in order to be classified as milk bread. Similarly, for ‘honey bread,’ a minimum of 5per cent honey is required, for ‘cheese bread,’ a minimum of 10per cent cheese is required, for ‘fruit bread,’ 20per cent candied fruit, for ‘triticale bread,’ 20per cent triticale flour, for ‘rye bread,’ 20per cent rye flour, for ‘raisin bread,’ 20per cent raisins, for ‘bran bread,’ 5per cent edible bran, for ‘protein enrich bread’, 20 percent edible protein, with a minimum speciality ingredient of 2per cent for breads such as “garlic bread,” “masala bread,” and “oregano bread.”
According to the food regulator’s announcement, stakeholders can comment on the document and send it to the FSSAI.