India: FSSAI issues draft regulations for organic food products

Seeking to ensure that organic food products really are organic, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has released a draft regulation for organic food.

The explanation in the media is that organic foods will have to comply with the provisions under the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) administered by the government or the Participatory Guarantee System for India (PGS-India) that is run by the Agriculture Ministry or with any other standards notified by the food authority. The FSSAI has sought public comments on the draft regulations which have been prepared in view of rising demand for organic food products.

"Organic food products are either those grown under a system of agriculture without the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides or made from organically produced raw materials ... Currently, a number of food products are being marketed as organic," the FSSAI said. However, the regulator said that consumers do not have any way of checking the authenticity of organic food products due to the lack of a regulatory framework. "The draft regulation on organic food is aimed at overcoming this problem and ensuring that what is sold as organic food is really organic," the FSSAI said.